The Time War
by SherlocktorWho
Summary: 1st in the Children of Time series. Doctor Who: but with kids/teens instead as the main characters. 1st chapter is prologue. Main: 13-year-old Ashley East lives a normal life until she meets a strange boy. She doesn't realise that if she accepts his offer her life will change forever... (11th doc will appear in later chapters) Some 11/Amy, Amy/Rory and OC/OC
1. Prologue

**Hey everyone, TimeKid here, with the Prologue for my new series! I'd just like to say, when I checked the stats for my oneshot "The Plan", I was gobsmacked. I only uploaded it 2 days ago and it already has 3 reviews, 1 favourite and over 300 views! You guys are amazing! I can't thank you more for your amazing feedback!**

**Info about my new series:**

**It is Doctor Who, but with a twist. The series is called "Children of Time", where the main characters are kids! Lol! They're not really kids, they're kind of teens, but I've had this idea for ages and finally I get to write it. I actually wrote a few stories ages ago about this, but this is what I hate about myself: I spend ages on stories and then I decide I don't like them and want to start again. I thought my original ones were a bit weird so I'm starting again on this series.**

**Info: Basically, if you're confused, the Director (don't copy my name please or I'll hunt you down and put you in stormcage) is a 208 year old Time Lord (13/14 in Earth years - this probably isn't right but who really cares) who is basically my version of the Doctor. He's just escaped the Time War, and has been shot by a Dalek so he regenerates in the TARDIS, which he acquired after finishing the Academy. His TARDIS is crashing to a planet... I'll say no more about it. You have to read it to know! Enjoy, and review (no flames please) and favourite, they encourage me to continue writing!**

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An excruciating pain tore through the body of the Time Lord who was trying to pilot the TARDIS. It wasn't exactly easy; since every fibre of his body was in agony and he had an entire army of Daleks that could kill him any second.

The Director; a newly qualified Time Lord fresh out of the Academy, had just seen his house destroyed, his family and friends die, and worst of all: his own planet in ruins. The 208-year-old (roughly 13/14 in Earth years), had barely managed to escape, with being shot by a Dalek and all. Before he could regenerate, he had to pilot his time machine as far away from the Daleks as possible.

Letting out a sigh of relief, the Director knew he was safe, for now. After all, he was the other side of the galaxy. Hopefully no Daleks would be around these parts.

It had started. The golden energy swirled around his hands, gradually getting faster and faster. Only 208, and he'd already used up a regeneration. Good going there, he thought sarcastically as he prepared himself for the change.

Tipping his head and arms back, he allowed the energy to pour out of his body. Every cell was changing, and he struggled to contain his pain.

Breathless, the Time Lord collapsed onto the glass floor of the TARDIS, just as the ship began to spiral out of control and descend down upon the planet below.

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**Reviews? I'll try to finish the first chapter asap! I hope you stay with me on this one!**


	2. Chapter 1: The Boy In The Box

**1st chapter is here! I'll try to update as often as I can! Also, thanks so much for the amount of reviews/favs/views for my fic "The Plan"! Keep it up! :)**

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Intergalactic Cruise-liner _White Nova _was a huge cruise-ship; but unlike the ones you'd usually see on Earth. The _White Nova _was twice the length of the Earth, carried 2 million passengers, and most of all, it was a spaceship. It toured solar systems, galaxies, and let passengers explore alien planets. Despite being owned by humans; the ship accommodates for many species.

Today the ship was cruising the planet Fresto 4, a planet populated by humanoid aliens with purple skin. The planet was tropical; high temperatures, transparent seas and clear green sky. It was also a popular intergalactic tourist spot.

With a population of 20 billion, the streets were always crowded and it was difficult to move. 13-year-old Ashley East was just one of the 2 million passengers on board the _White Nova_. The guests had been allowed the full day to explore the planet.

Ashley was sunbathing on one of the many beaches, with her parents: Hannah and Martin and her brother Darren. The hot orange sand scorched her almost bare back.

"Mum," Ashley called over to her mother, who was engrossed in an e-book on a sun-lounger. "I'm going in the sea."

"You be careful, dear," she called back. "Lord knows what alien sea-life could be on this planet."

Ashley nodded and ran over to the sea, constantly having to lift her feet off the sand, avoiding the heat. It was a huge relief when her feet touched water.

Her purple bikini was a plus in this heat, since if she'd chosen to wear her one-piece swimsuit she would've scorched. The sea temperature was almost like a desert, and didn't take much time to get used to as Ashley dived under, her long red hair spreading out behind her. The sight was breathtaking. A school of ten-eyed fish swam around some coral, something resembling a stingray brushed over the sea bed.

Patterns of yellow light danced on the sea bed as Ashley continued to swim further and further out. She was amazed by the different types of aliens she'd encountered. The water was gradually getting deeper and deeper as she swam.

Ashley stopped swimming and came up for a breath quickly, immediately plunging back underwater after. In the distance she saw a dark shape. It looked cuboid-shaped, but she couldn't make out what it was. _Maybe it was just some spaceship-wreck_, she thought to herself. But being the curious person that she was, she couldn't resist going to see what it was.

Taking in another lungful of air just in case, Ashley dived back underwater and began to swim towards the object. As she swam, she didn't care about how far out she was, even though she was probably going to get eaten alive by her mother if she found out.

The shape was getting clearer and clearer the closer she got to it. She'd now worked out that it was blue, some sort of box perhaps. After a while she had to go up to get another lungful of air, then dived back under again. What was this thing? Definitely didn't look like a spaceship to her.

_Maybe it was a container dropped by a spaceship_, she thought.

Ashley's eyes widened behind her goggles and bubbles began to rise from underneath the box. It began to rise towards the surface. Ashley gasped as it continued to rise. What was it doing?

After a few seconds the box bobbed at the surface, rocking back and forth by the gentle waves. Ashley swam to the surface, and swam even closer to it. Is it possible that this could be an escape pod or something?

It certainly didn't look like one.

The doors opened inwards, startling Ashley. She was tempted to go look inside, but there didn't seem to be much room inside, so there couldn't be much in there. Then she noticed a pair of hands clasping the edge, followed by a blonde head popping out.

It was a boy, she knew that. _Must have been an escape pod_, she thought. _Even though there doesn't seem to be much room in there_.

The boy squinted around, and smiled. "Fresto 4! Wonderful planet, I think. Except I just _had _to land in the sea, didn't I?"

Ashley squinted. "Who are you?"

The boy's head whipped round to face her. He clearly hadn't noticed her until she'd spoken.

"Me? I'm the Director. This is the TARDIS, my spaceship. Now, can you help me tow her to shore?"

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**Did you like it? Reviews!**


	3. Chapter 2: The TARDIS Speedboat

**Two chapters out in one day! What a treat! Hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

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"What?" Ashley said, shocked. Who was this boy?

"I _said_, can you help me tow her to shore?"

"But how is _that _a spaceship?" Ashley asked, indicating the TARDIS.

"Oi! Don't dis the TARDIS!"

Ashley pouted. "How am I meant to help you? What do I look like to you, eh? Superwoman?"

"Look, if she sinks, the entire ocean will be drained. Now I need your help," the Director said, putting on his best puppy-dog eyes.

Ashley sighed. She couldn't help noticing how sexy his hair was. She flung that thought out of her head and concentrated.

"How can I help you?"

"Do you have a boat? Or anything like that?"

"I don't _live _here. How do you expect my father to bring his speedboat X2 on holiday with us?"

"Okay then. I'm going to have to do this the hard way. Do you want a lift?"

Ashley looked mystified, then nodded.

"Then swim over here."

Ashley swam towards the box, just as the Director reached out an arm and pulled her into the afloat TARDIS. They both sat next to each other on top of the 'Police Box' sign. Ashley shivered at the sudden contact with the air. She swore out of the corner of her eye she could see his eyes wandering up and down her legs. Ignoring this probable imaginary thought, Ashley looked at him as if to say, _what are you gonna do?_

The Director grinned, pulling a small gadget out of his pocket and pointing it into the box. The yellow tip glowed, and Ashley felt the box shudder.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking slightly worried.

"I forgot that Type 99 TARDISes have a speedboat function!"

"What!?"

She almost leapt out of her skin as she heard the roar of an engine coming from behind her. Looking into the water, Ashley spotted the propeller that had appeared out of the box, causing a sudden spurt of bubbles to rise to the surface.

Ashley laughed nervously as she felt the Director clutch her hand.

"Hold on tight!"

An almighty roar came from the 'engine' as the box began to tear through the water, sending it forwards, then turning in the direction of the shore.

"No no no! We want a ride _first_!"

She felt the box turning away from the shore, and then it started rocketing forwards, further out into the ocean.

Ashley screamed as the speed increased, her wet red hair flying out behind her, one hand clutching the Director's, the other holding on for dear life to the side of the box.

"Woo!" he yelled as the TARDIS sped through the water, sending a 3-metre-high spray of water shooting into the air from behind them. "Isn't this fun?"

"Yeah!" Ashley called back, her voice muffled by the wind. For a second their eyes met, but immediately darted away as soon as it felt awkward.

The TARDIS began turning round, in the direction of the shore.

"Three... two... one..."

"GO!"

The time machine immediately began shooting forwards, and the two teens screamed in excitement as they neared the shore. Ashley wondered what her parents would think, seeing her zooming towards them, with a strange boy, on some weird box that had somehow turned itself into a speedboat.

As soon as they beached, they leapt off and onto the hot purple sand, thoroughly soaked. Ashley couldn't control her grin.

"That was _amazing_!"

The Director threw his drenched jumper onto the sand and shook himself off.

"I kno-"

Ashley let out a tiny scream as he collapsed onto the floor, clutching his chest. She rushed over to him and crouched down beside him as he clenched his teeth in pain.

"What's wrong? Are you OK?"

He nodded. "All this is perfectly norm-a-l..."

He gasped in pain again as his hands glowed a faint gold. He held them out in front of him, watching them glow.

"What's happening?" Ashley asked.

The Director breathed out a swirl of gold light, which rose up, eventually vanishing into thin air. Ashley sat wide-eyed next to him.

"Oh, I'm still regenerating. First time, you see. I don't know what to expect, really."

"Regenerating?"

With a quick shake of his head, he leapt to his feet. "I'll explain later."

Ashley stood up and continued following him. "You haven't told me, _what _is a TARDIS?"

"Time and Relative Dimension in Space, in other words, it's a time machine. Probably the last now."

As he said those last words, Ashley noticed the look of sorrow and hurt in his eyes. So she decided not to probe any further in case she accidentally upset him.

"Did I mention, it's _bloomin' _hot here?" he said, turning on his heel to face her.

"Apparently it's one of the hottest days of the year," Ashley explained. "My father said it's approximately 50 degrees Celsius."

"No wonder," the Director sighed, undoing his shirt buttons. "Sorry about this. I might be a Time Lord with a lower body temperature than you, but it doesn't stop me getting hot."

Ashley curiously raised an eyebrow. She'd heard of many alien species, but never Time Lords.

As he ripped his shirt off, Ashley stared wide-eyed at his muscular torso. He had a nice six-pack and strong arms. Shaking her head, she tore her eyes away from his naked upper half, blushing furiously.

"Right," he beamed, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Look at her. She looks like a piece rescued from the wreck of _Titanic_."

Ashley chuckled lightly as she eyed the seaweed and all sorts of rubbish dangling off the TARDIS. She'd heard of _Titanic_, it was apparently some ancient ship from Old Earth. It had sunk because of damage from an iceberg.

"What's inside?" Ashley asked. "I mean, it's not exactly _big_."

"Now that's where you're wrong," the Director said, running over to the TARDIS and pulling himself over the side, so he could look down into his ship. "There's a whole different dimension in there."

Ashley was curious to find out, so she joined him by his side and leaned over. Surely enough, there was a massive orange-lit room inside. Ashley jumped off immediately, rubbing her eyes in case she was hallucinating.

"But, it _can't _be. It's bigger on the inside!"

"Yup," he beamed, jumping down. "Anyway, your parents are probably wondering where you are. Should we go and find them?"

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**Reviews?**


	4. Chapter 3: The Discovery

**Another chapter! I noticed in the previous chapter I put purple sand instead of orange sand. My mistake! Anyways, enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review and favourite! :)**

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The pair walked across the sand, dodging all the crowds of people. They literally covered almost every inch of the beach, except from that tiny bit at the end in which the TARDIS was parked. Walking involved stepping over people's heads, leaping over abandoned towels and ducking under umbrellas. Sometimes people would cuss at you if you knocked over their umbrella or disturbed them in some way.

Ashley scanned the beach, trying to remember where her parents were. She thought it was somewhere near the promenade, and Darren's bright blue towel would stand out quite well against the orange sand. Except there probably were a thousand blue towels on this beach.

"I think I'm lost," Ashley sighed, grateful for the patch of sand which had enough room for them to stand side by side on two feet. "I swear we were by the promenade."

"This beach is so big. They could be anywhere," the Director pointed out. "But I can't help you, I have no idea what your parents look like."

Then Ashley spotted their distinct green-spotted beach umbrella in the distance, and her am shot out to point. "Found them! They're over there!"

The Director's head shot up and scanned the area where she was pointing. Of course he didn't know who she was pointing to, so he just had to follow her as she raced towards them, leaping over beach towels and the occasional bucket and spade.

As they got closer her mum seemed to notice her and stood up quite fast from her deck chair. The realisation hit Ashley as she stopped. Her mum was angry. She never stood up that fast and gave her that look unless she was angry.

"Ashley East! Get your butt here right _now_!"

The Director just shrugged and whispered _"Parents." _into Ashley's ear, and she giggled at the remark, slowing the walking pace.

"Come here _now_, young lady!"

Ashley gulped and began to walk faster, until she stood in front of her mother, looking like a puppy that's about to get it's butt smacked.

"Where have you been? Your father and I have been worried _sick _about you."

"Mum, I just went for a swim, you know," Ashley said.

"And who's this? Just another you've picked up!?"

"For goodness sake, mum, I'm 13!"

"You don't even know who he is! He could be anyone!"

"Mum, you're so paranoid," Ashley sighed. "He's a friend. That's all."

Hannah turned to the Director, a stern and serious expression on her face. "Who are you? What have you been up to with my daughter?"

The Director looked mystified. "I'm the Director, and I haven't been up to _anything _with your daughter. Do I look like a pervert to you?"

Hannah sighed. "The _Director_? What kind of a name is that?"

"Mum," Ashley interrupted. "Just leave us alone, OK?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Darren look up from his console. Everywhere they went, he was _always _on a console.

"Ashley's got a boyfriend! Ashley's got a boyfriend!" he smirked. Ashley gave him the finger.

"Shut up Darren, you turd!" she snapped.

"Ashley, _don't _call your brother that!"

_Parents_, Ashley thought. Thank the Lord her father was asleep because she wasn't sure she could take the two of them lecturing her.

"Mum, just leave us alone," Ashley said, and began to walk off. The Director followed her.

"Where are you going?"

"I dunno. Where do you want to go? Anywhere away from them."

"I'm quite hungry actually. You have any food?"

"No, but there's a market up there. You wanna get some lunch?"

"Sure."

Both walked up the stairs and onto the promenade. It was up here that they could really see how many people had crowded the beach. There was barely an inch of space left.

"What about your ship?" Ashley asked, turning to face the Director. He spun around.

"She'll repair herself eventually. Hopefully she'll find a good spot to park aswell so I don't have to leap over all those people again."

Ashley laughed. "I have no money. Do you?"

"I'm skint."

"Then we can't get any food, I'm afraid."

"Wait a minute," the Director beamed, standing on tip-toes and peering over the crowd into the town square. His eyes lit up. He'd obviously spotted something.

"Cash point! ATM! Whatever you call them!"

Ashley grinned, taking his hand as they pushed through the crowd. She yelped every time someone bumped into her, she almost tripped over once.

After queuing for a few minutes, they finally reached the cash point. Ashley tapped his shoulder, and he turned to face her.

"Hmm?"

"How do you plan on getting money out?"

"I have just the thing."

He rummaged around in his trouser pocket for a few seconds then brandished a silver gadget. It was the one he'd used when they had that 'speedboat' ride.

"Sonic screwdriver! Comes in handy loads of times."

"But that's robbery!"

"Shh!" he snapped, putting a finger to her lips. "Watch and learn, Ash!"

Ashley watched as he pointed the sonic screwdriver at the cash machine. No one had called her Ash in _ages_. The last time she was called that it had been by her ex, and he'd broken her heart.

She watched in awe as a a pile of metal sticks clunked into the gutter. The Director grabbed them, took her hand and began to run. Once they were a good distance away, he stood beside her and began to count the money.

"Right..." he said, shuffling through the sticks, mouthing words silently. "That's 10,000 credits. Should last a while."

"Ten thousand," Ashley said in disbelief. "How did you get ten thousand credits?"

"Like I said, sonic screwdriver," the Director beamed, waving the gadget in the air then stuffing it back in his pocket. "Now, which restaurant does madam fancy?"

Ashley blushed, then looked around. "How about that nice posh one over there. Would sir care to accompany me?"

"Sir would like that a lot," the Director said in his poshest accent, linking his arm with hers and striding off towards a posh-looking restaurant, surrounded by floating tables and flooded with customers. They were all nicely dressed in suits and expensive dresses, whilst Ashley was dressed in her bikini and the Director had battered trousers and no top on.

They sat down at a table for two, on the floating stools. They table was almost see-through with a calm green glow, along with the stalls. The menus were sheets of e-paper, flexible with digital lettering on them. The Director could read every single word of the squiggled lettering, but Ashley was struggling.

"Director, I don't understand this. I haven't studied Frestonian yet."

He leaned over the table and looked into her eyes. "I have an idea. Lean over here. This won't hurt a bit, and I'm not lying."

Ashley did as she was told, until their foreheads were almost touching. The Director gently pressed the tips of his fingers to her temples, closing his eyes. She felt something enter her mind, and shuddered for a second, just as he let her go. Ashley felt weird.

"What did you do?"

He just smirked. "Try and read it now."

Ashley picked up the menu and stared wide-eyed at the English text. "How did you do that?"

"TARDIS telepathic circuits. I just temporarily transferred it into your head. It translates almost any alien language," he explained.

"Wow," Ashley grinned, as a suit-clad waiter with a trademark moustache strode over to them.

"May I take your order?"

Ashley scanned the menu. "I'll have... wait a minute... grilled Geroids with Huddarian sauce please."

The waiter scribbled it down as the Director read out what he wanted.

"Your food will be ready soon," the waiter said in his posh accent, and walked away, scratching his moustache.

Ashley leaned across the table. "So you take me to a posh restaurant and then order posh food. Seems an awful lot like a date to me."

The Director awoke from his trance, eyes widening. "A _date_!? _Is _this a date? I don't know, what is a date anyway?"

Ashley giggled. "Please tell me you know what a date is."

He shook his head. "Nope."

Ashley sighed, shaking her head in disbelief, then had to explain to him what a date was.

He nodded, biting his bottom lip. "I'm eating my lunch. How is this a date?"

"I don't know, I was only teasing," Ashley said, resting her head on her hand.

"Do you _want _this to be a date?"

Ashley blushed at his comment. "I don't know."

The Director leaned across the table raised his eyebrows teasingly. He swept his hair back with his hand. "Well, it _could _be."

Ashley was now blushing violently. "Uh... I..."

He started to lean in closer until their lips were almost touching. Ashley's heart was beating furiously in her chest as he stopped a centimetre away from her lips.

Shooting away and leaning back in his chair, he started laughing. "Ha! Gotcha! I was only joking!"

Sighing and shaking her head, Ashley glared at him. "That _wasn't _funny. You had me worried there that you were about to kiss me or something."

Somewhere deep down Ashley thought she'd like it if he kissed her. He looked reasonably sexy, nice hair, cute eyes...

_Shut it! _Ashley thought to herself, _You've only just met him!_

"Worried?" he said, a smirk on his lips. "Is this regeneration _that _bad?"

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked. He still hadn't explained to her what a regeneration was. "You're... Uh... I don't know... fine?"

The Director chuckled. "I'm sorry if I'm making you embarrassed. I mean, I am quite a stud myself."

Ashley burst out laughing. "Are you now? And what makes you think that?"

"Well, I can't help my good looks."

She knew he was teasing her. "What makes you think you necessarily have _good looks_?"

He swept his hair back with his hand and pouted his lips. "I just do."

"OK, I think I'm going to have to avoid this conversation. Be back in a minute," Ashley said, hopping off her chair. "Toilet."

The Director nodded. "See you."

Ashley opened the door of the main restaurant and walked inside. There was some sort of alien classical music playing as she walked up the stairs onto the second floor. Unusually, no-one seemed to be eating on this floor, because all the tables and chairs were empty. Ashley understood when she noticed a cleaner mopping up the floor.

_There must've been some drunks up here last night, _she thought as she walked down the corridor following the arrows to the toilets.

At a corner, she stopped in her tracks. She swore she'd just heard a knocking coming from behind her. Listening intently, Ashley stood as still as a statue, her ears pricked up. _Knock knock_. It was the noise again. Slowly turning around, Ashley noticed a cupboard in the wall. She walked up to it and listened against the door.

There it was again. _Knock knock_.

Ashley twisted the doorknob. It was surprisingly open. She didn't know what was in the cupboard, so she opened the door slowly. For all she knew someone could be trapped in there.

Once the door was fully open, Ashley peered inside. Inside the cupboard, leaning against the shelves, was a giant metal man.

The slit it had for a mouth lit up. "Delete!"

Ashley let out a piercing scream, slamming the door shut and running for her life.

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**Ooh, it's the Cybermen! I wonder what will happen? Reviews?**


	5. Chapter 4: The Metal Man

**Another chapter! I'll try to write as many chapters a day as I can, max is probably 2. Soon I won't have much time to write chapters because the summer hols are ending soon :( And I'll have GCSE stuff to do at school, so I might only have weekends to write. But I'll still try to write as often as possible! Please review and favourite!**

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With his super-sensitive Time Lord hearing, the Director heard her scream and immediately shot up out of his chair and raced up the stairs to see what was wrong. As he went up the stairs, he almost had a double-heart attack as he bumped into Ashley. She looked as if she'd seen a ghost.

Breathing heavily, Ashley began to explain. "There was this metal man in the cupboard, and it started talking! I don't know! Is it a malfunctioning robot or something!?"

The Director tried to process what she was telling him. "A metal man? What did it look like?"

"A metal man you idiot!" Ashley snapped, dragging him up the stairs and down the corridor. They both skidded to a halt as the knocking changed to a banging.

_Bang. Bang._

"_What _is that?" Ashley asked, clutching onto his hand tightly.

_Bang. Bang._

"I've heard of something resembling a metal man before, but they were called Cybermen, and they came from Mondas."

"And _what _is Mondas?" Ashley asked, as the banging continued.

"No time to explain," the Director said. "Cause I think it's trying to get out."

Just as he finished his sentence, a final bang sent to door crashing down onto the floor. The sound of boots stomping accompanied the large figure of a metal man out of the cupboard.

"Delete!"

It turned around, then started to march towards them. Ashley screamed, and the Director yelled,

"RUN!"

Ducking a laser bolt, they ran down the stairs and back to their table, hoping the Cyberman would take time to catch up with them.

Puffing like they'd just run a marathon, both sat down at their chairs as the order arrived. The Director badly hoped that the Cyberman would clear off, but there wasn't much chance of that.

Unfortunately they'd ordered a large meal so it wouldn't exactly take a short time to eat. They couldn't exactly eat like civilised posh people and began stuffing the food down their necks.

"Not much time," the Director said through a mouthful of food. "It could be here any minute."

Screams erupted from inside the restaurant as the Cyberman began marching down the stairs. Waiters desperately told customers to calm down, but it was total mayhem as everyone pegged it for the doors.

The sound of laser bolts filled their ears accompanied by more screams as the Cyberman continued to shoot. There weren't enough Cybermen for them to take them to be upgraded, so shooting had to do for now.

Just half way through their meal, both decided that they'd prefer not to get shot and ran with the crowd. Of course with everyone pouring out of the restaurant, the streets were even more crowded than usual and everyone was yelling at each other for pushing past them. Once they noticed the Cyberman exit the restaurant, more screams filled the air.

The Director held tightly onto Ashley's hand as they shoved for all they were worth through the crowd, until they reached the promenade and regained their breaths.

"This is _not _good."

"What is happening? What was that Cyberman or whatever it's called trying to do?"

"The Cybermen are dangerous. They either kill you by electrocution or their laser gun on their arm, or upgrade you, as they call it. Basically they turn you into a Cyberman, rid of emotions," the Director explained. "But I have no idea what they'd want with this planet."

Ashley thought for a moment. "Wait a minute, Fresto 4 has a population of 20 billion. If they want to make you like them, wouldn't they target highly populated planets?"

The Director's eyes lit up. "Ashley! You're a genius! Now, we need to get rid of that Cyberman."

"How?"

"I don't know."

"Well think then! It's killing people here!"

The Director buried his head in his hands and racked his brains. "Oh my head! I can't think of a way other than finding their ship and killing them all! Which isn't my favourite option!"

Just as more Cybermen beamed down in flashes of blue light, all the people went silent. Every single one of them. Even the Director.

Ashley stared around, shocked, as all the people, like robots, stood up straight. She ran over to the Director and shook him by the shoulders in an attempt to wake him from his trance.

"Director! What's happening? Wake up!"

Then she noticed that everyone had been put into this trance except from the humans. She struggled to think why this was happening, what these aliens had in common that humans didn't.

The people all started walking like drones towards the Cybermen. Ashley gasped when she noticed a massive silver spaceship descend down from the sky.

She stepped in front of the Director and shook him again. "Look! You're being controlled! Snap out of it!"

Then she had an idea. Grabbing his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, she searched for the button and when she found it, pointed it at his face in hope that he'd wake up. To her surprise, his eyes rolled round in their sockets and he woke up, shaking his head.

"W-what happened?"

"I don't know, but the Cybermen are taking all these people," Ashley explained. "Controlling them. I don't know why."

"Telepathic controls!" he yelled out of the blue, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "They're controlling everyone through their telepathic centres. Somehow."

"What?" Ashley asked. "Then why isn't it affecting humans? It's only the other aliens. Is it because humans aren't telepathic or something?"

"Correct," the Director grinned. "Now we need to get on that spaceship and shut down the systems, then shoo them off."

"And how are we gonna do that?" Ashley asked, becoming increasingly worried as the heard of people continued walking towards the Cybermen. She realised that a huge ramp of steps had descended from the ship, and the people were now marching up it.

"Quick! Think of something!"

"The only way we can get up is to blend in with the crowd," the Director said. "Which means we have to walk up like robots, and show no emotion. Think you can do that?"

Ashley nodded. "I think. We've got to try."

"That's the spirit!" the Director beamed. "Now let's go."

They both joined the crowd as they marched up the stairs single file, past the Cybermen who were guarding them. Humans that were trying to help their alien friends were either electrocuted or shot with a laser bolt.

Their feet clanged on the metal stairs as they marched up. The ship was at least 100 metres above ground, so it was quite a walk and Ashley was beginning to tire. When they finally reached the entrance, the chill of cold air stung their skin.

Ashley winced as she heard screams from the distance. The people were queuing up to get upgraded, and the line finally came to a halt. The walls were black and the lighting was very dim.

"There's no Cybermen around here," Ashley whispered into the Director's ear, who was currently standing in front of her. "Should we make a dash for it?"

The Director nodded, taking her hand and creeping down the corridor past all the other people. They reached a T-junction after a few seconds walking and crept down it, trying their best to keep the noise down in case a Cyberman heard.

As Ashley walked, a tear fell down her cheek as she heard the screams in the distance. Embarrassed, she wiped it away with her free hand and continued the walk down endless corridors. Eventually they came to a dead end with two lifts.

The Director pointed his sonic screwdriver at the first lift, and the doors slid open obediently. They stepped inside and the Director asked for the control room.

Ashley heard the _whoosh _of the lift travelling up the shaft as it ascended. She'd thought they'd have teleports, instead of primitive lift technology.

The doors slid open and both walked out into another dimly-lit room. Luckily no Cybermen were around, which was unusual, and Ashley thought it was too good to be true. A huge semi-circular control panel stretched across the front of the room, with a window above it to allow a view of the planet below, which was currently the sea on this position on the ship. The Director looked around the room, searching just in case a Cyberman turned up.

"Hush," he whispered. "They could be watching us, or listening to us."

"What are we going to do?" Ashley whispered back, running her fingers along the controls.

The Director was busy typing at a panel. "Darn, it's password locked. I'll have to try the sonic."

Pointing his gadget at the panel still didn't work. "Deadlocked. Great."

"Is there anything I can do?" Ashley asked, sauntering over to his side.

He sighed and stared hopelessly at the control panel. "If I don't think of something _hundreds _and _thousands _of people will die."

"I'm OK with computer stuff, my dad runs a technology company," Ashley said. "Let me try."

"It won't make any difference..."

He couldn't finish his sentence because Ashley had pushed him out of the way, and was currently typing at a speed which even he couldn't live up to on the keyboard. He stared wide-eyed as a green light lit up and a screen in front of them switched on.

"Brilliant!" the Director grinned, kissing her forehead. Ashley blushed at this gesture as he started typing and staring intently at the screen.

"Turning telepathic controls off, wait a minute, Ash? Could you reach over and pull that red lever over there?"

Ashley nodded and searched for the lever he was indicating. She pulled it and the controls made a weird beeping sound.

"Yes!" he grinned. "Telepathic controls offline!"

"But the Cybermen will notice!" Ashley pointed out. "They'll come here and kill us!"

"Yes they will, and that's why we need to run!" the Director exclaimed, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the lift. "Bridge please."

The lift seemed to move sideways, which confused Ashley. Lifts didn't normally move sideways, as she'd read in history books.

The lift stopped, the doors hissing open. Ashley gasped as she spotted all the Cybermen crowding the room. They spotted them immediately and pointed their lasers at them.

"Wait wait wait wait!" the Director said, raising his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Before you kill me, I'd like to know what you're doing here."

Both stepped out of the lift, and Ashley raised her hands too.

"We want to upgrade the world," the Cyber-leader, the one with the black markings said in a robotic monotone voice. "Make them live forever, become like us."

"And rid them of emotions," the Director sighed. "Look, you're killing these people!"

A Cyberman looked from the controls to the leader. "We have received a transmission. The captives are escaping."

"Delete them," the leader ordered and the Cyberman nodded.

The Director removed his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, and brandished it in front of the leader.

"What is that device?"

"A sonic screwdriver," he said, pointing it at the control panel. The yellow tip glowed and a siren blared.

"What's happening?" Ashley asked as all the Cybermen began screaming and clutching their heads. After a few moments, their heads exploded and they collapsed to the floor.

"I turned off their emotional inhibitors," the Director explained. "Everything they cut out, they're feeling it again."

"So what are we going to do?"

With another flash of the sonic screwdriver, the Director turned to her and grinned. "Self destruct. Let's run!"

More alarms began to blare as they ran into the lift. The lift whooshed through the shaft until it stopped at the ground floor in which there was a frenzy of people running from the dying Cybermen.

The Director, holding on tightly to Ashley's hand, shoved through all the people as they ran down the stairs, hugging their loved ones when they escaped. Once everyone was out and safe, the stairs began to slowly rise back into the ship.

Ashley was glad to be back on the ground again. After the steps had been swallowed back inside the ship, it began to rise until it was right up high in the sky. With a loud bang, the ship imploded into a tiny dot.

Everyone cheered wildly, thankful that the Cybermen were defeated, for now. Some sobbed over dead friends or loved ones lying lifelessly on the ground.

"Yes!" the Director cheered. "We did it!"

Ashley squealed and pulled him into a tight hug. It didn't last long, because Ashley was faced with her mother and father stomping towards her, Darren in tow.

"Ashley East, look at me!"

Ashley spun around, facing her angry mother.

"What, mum?"

"Where have you been? Wandering off like that, what were you thinking? You could get kidnapped, or lost! And that spaceship!"

Ashley grinned. "Yes, mum. We stopped it. _He _stopped it. He blew it up."

"Of course he did," Hannah sighed sarcastically. "He's a 13 year old child like yourself. Of course he blew up that massive spaceship."

Ashley sighed in frustration. "What's gotten into you mum? Can't you just leave us alone?"

"Ashley, we're going back to the ship. It's about time we left."

"_Mum_," Ashley whined. "I want to stay here for longer."

"Tough," her mother spat. "You're coming with us."

"Can the Director come?"

"No. We don't even know him."

"Mum, please?"

"No, dear. Now come with me."

Ashley looked upset as she was dragged away by her aggravated mother. The Director winked to her, which she supposed to have some sort of meaning. Maybe he was going to come after her.

She waved as she vanished in a flash of green light. The Director sighed and set off to find the TARDIS. He was coming to get her.

* * *

**The Cybermen are defeated! I wonder what will happen next... Reviews?**


	6. Chapter 5: The Visit

**Sorry no chapter yesterday! But the amount of times I post depends on the amount of interest for this story. So far I only have 1 review, which I'm quite sad about, so if you want me to post more, please review and fav! Thanks for your support, I have another little fluffy chapter for you!**

* * *

Searching through the TARDIS wardrobe was harder than it looked. The room was massive, and there was a selection of clothes that could take you years to get through. But the new Time Lord had finally decided on a new set of clothes.

He wore a red and blue striped shirt over a white t-shirt, some black jeans and cool blue sneakers. His hair was freshly washed and gelled back, and he was ready to go and find Ashley.

* * *

It had been a long two weeks on board the _White Nova _for Ashley since she'd been dragged away by her mother. All the time she'd acted depressed, longing to see that mysterious boy who'd changed her life. Sometimes she wondered if he'd ever come back. Maybe he'd forgotten about her.

Ashley stood in the viewing deck, staring at space. She leaned on the hand rail around the edge of the floor-to-ceiling windows, in deep thought. Space looked magnificent; the stars shining, new planets, and much, much more. That's why she'd wanted to go on this cruise: to see space. If the Director was telling the truth that his ship was a time machine, she couldn't wait to go travelling around with him, if that ever happened. If he ever came back.

"It's wonderful, isn't it?"

Ashley gasped as turned around, to see a familiar figure, hands buried in his trouser pockets. She emitted a girlish squeal, running up and hugging him tight, burying her head in the crook of his neck.

He laughed, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "How long have I been away?"

Ashley scowled. "_Two _weeks!"

"Oh," he sighed, biting his bottom lip. "I'm sorry, the TARDIS must've taken me a bit far, she is still rebuilding after crashing in the water..."

"Shut up and come here!" Ashley snapped, hugging him again. She intended to plant a quick kiss on his cheek, but he moved his head at the wrong moment and it ended up on his lips. Ashley gasped, her heart pounding. She tried to pull away, but her body wouldn't let her. Instead, she ended up giving him a full-on kiss.

His eyes shot open in shock, and he had to react quickly. Was it an accident? Probably not. Did she like him? Probably. Could this work? Probably not.

Eventually his eyes fluttered shut, and his hands ghosted over her hips. She pulled away after a few more seconds, staring wide-eyed at him. He gave her the same look back.

"I'm sorry," she said, staring at the floor. "It was an accident, I didn't mean it, please don't be mad..."

He sighed, taking her hands in his. "It's OK, just a bit of a shock, that's all."

She gave a weak smile. "It was meant to be on your cheek."

He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms loosely around her shaking body. Whispering in her ear, he said, "Oh, don't worry about it. It was a pretty good kiss though."

Ashley's heart continued to pound. Did he like her too?

"Thanks."

He stood, facing her. "You're welcome."

Ashley got the shock of her life as he leaned in and gently pressed his lips to hers. His tongue begged for entrance, and Ashley obliged, letting him explore her mouth. She got pinned against the railing as he continued to kiss her. So he _did _like her.

Her moment of excitement was abruptly ruined when she heard her mother's voice in the distance.

"Ashley! Where are you? We're going out to dinner!"

She quickly pulled away, her head still spinning.

"It's my mum."

The Director sighed, giving her a peck on the forehead. "That's exactly what I need."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ashley spotted her mother striding down the corridor, and gulped when she spotted her.

"Ashley! There you are! Where have you been dear?"

Then she noticed the Director standing beside her, and he desperately wiped the smear of lipstick off his lips with his sleeve as she approached, putting her hands on her hips.

"It's _you_."

He nodded, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Yes it is. Got a problem with that?"

"_Yes_, actually, because I _saw _you kissing my daughter!"

He flushed bright red, and stared at the floor in embarrassment.

"_Mum_," Ashley sighed. "I've had boyfriends before. Why can't you get over it?"

"Don't you back-chat me!" Hannah snapped, pointing her finger centimetres away from Ashley's nose. "I'm trying to protect you, young lady. I'm your mother, it's my job."

"Mum, what have you got against him?"

"Who is he, anyway?"

Ashley swallowed, before daring herself to explain. "He's a Time Lord... he's called the Director, that's all I know."

"So you've snatched up an alien," Hannah sighed. "Just what I need. My daughter with an alien."

"Mum, it's not like it's illegal or anything. Humans can, you know, marry and stuff with aliens," Ashley pointed out.

Sighing again, Hannah straightened up. "Right, let's forget about all this. We're going out to dinner and your father and brother are waiting at our room."

"Can the Director come? Please?" Ashley begged.

"Fine, but I want you in my sight at all times. The restaurants will close at this rate."

Ashley grinned, and grabbed his hand. "Cheer up, we're going out for dinner!"

Hannah started walking, Ashley and the Director behind.

He sighed, eyes still on the ground. "I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have got you in trouble with your mother. I'm sorry."

Ashley clutched his hand tighter, and gave him her sweetest smile. "You don't have to be sorry. That was the best kiss I've _ever _had."

He gave a faint smile. "But still, I shouldn't have got you in trouble with your mother. It was irresponsible of me."

Sighing, Ashley intertwined their fingers. "Don't worry. I'll live with her. I've managed for the past 13 years of my life."

"It won't work," the Director said, still looking upset. "I don't age, you do. I'll live on, and you'll die. I don't think I could live with seeing another person I love die."

Ashley's expression changed dramatically. "What?"

"Ash, my planet's gone. It burnt. I saw it, I was there. My family, friends, they all died and I could do nothing to stop it."

She could see a tear fall down his cheek, and she wiped it away with her thumb, staring sympathetically into his eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"No, no, it's not your fault," he shook his head, clasping her hand tighter.

Then Ashley had a brainwave. "Hang on, did you say, _another person I love_?"

His eyes widened and he went bright red. "I don't know..."

"Do you love me?" she asked, almost a squeak. She had a massive grin spread across her face.

"Ashley! Hurry up!"

It was her mother, trust her to ruin everything. Sighing, Ashley began to jog towards her mother, the Director holding on tightly to her hand.

She stopped at a door, and something from just above the door scanned her, before the door clicked and she stepped inside. Ashley followed, standing in the door frame waiting for her family.

They were all ready, her dad and her brother, who was surprisingly not on a console. Although she didn't doubt that he had one in his trouser pocket.

"Oh, it's your _boyfriend_," Darren smirked as she moved out of the way so everyone could get out.

Ashley glared at him. "Darren, why don't you find a nice big hole and jump in it?"

"You two, stop arguing," Hannah snapped. "Now, let's find a nice restaurant."

* * *

Ashley giggled as she spoon-fed the Director another piece of her pasta. The restaurant was secluded near the edge of the ship, with a nice starry view out the back. The family and the Director sat on a floating couch by the window, Ashley and the Director on one side, Hannah, Martin and Darren on the opposite side.

The Director leaned back on the sofa, sighing in contentment as the sofa's automatic massaging system rubbed softly against his back. His eyes flickered shut, and Ashley rested her head against his chest, then immediately bolted up again.

"What is it?" he asked, eyes still closed.

"Is it me, or do you have _two _hearts?" she gaped, and his eyes shot open.

"It's not you," he smiled, and his eyes shut again.

"I'm always finding out new things about you," Ashley sighed, resting her head back on his chest and purring quietly as she felt his gentle, relaxed breathing and the _thrum-thrum-thrum-thrum _of his hearts.

He let out another soft moan as the sofa continued its rituals on his back. His head buried itself in Ashley's hair and she smiled appreciatively, noticing her mother's glare but choosing to ignore it.

"Ashley and the Director sitting in a tree, doing things they shouldn't be, starts with s, ends with x, oh my god they're..."

"_Darren_!" Hannah spat, smacking her son's arm gently. "Not in the restaurant!"

He burst out laughing. "Look at her! One boyfriend after another!"

"Darren, leave your sister alone," Martin finally entered the world of speech. He usually left this kind of thing to Hannah, which she didn't particularly appreciate.

"At last, the father starts doing his job," Hannah sighed sarcastically. "It would be nice if you could help me a bit more, you know."

Ashley's hand crept up and rested on his stomach, gently stroking through the fabric of his t-shirt. He purred appreciatively.

Once everyone had finished their dinner, the parents returned to their room, Darren went off to God knows where, and the Director and Ashley stood in the viewing deck, admiring the stars together.

"So," the Director smiled, breaking the silence. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Where?" Ashley asked, grinning.

"Anywhere you like," the Director said.

Ashley squealed, hugging him. "Of course I want to come!"

They broke from the hug, and the Director looked at her seriously. "It could be dangerous."

"I like danger."

"Fine then, are you sure? What about your parents, and your brother?"

"I'll be glad to get away from him," Ashley said as they walked towards the TARDIS. "And them, they wouldn't mind. Although they probably would, but I don't care."

The Director smiled, wrapping an arm around her waist as they reached the TARDIS, it was parked in front of them.

Ashley grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she admired the deep blue box. "I can't wait!"

The Director opened the door and stepped aside, letting her inside. "Be my guest."

As she stepped in, her eyes widened at the sight of the orange-tinted room, with the console on a glass platform in the centre.

Closing the door, the Director ran up the small flight of steps and onto the platform.

"All of time and space, everything that happened and ever will, where do you wanna start?"

"It's amazing!" Ashley beamed, spinning on her heel and admiring the huge interior of the time machine. "It really is amazing!"

She joined him on the platform, running her fingers lightly over the controls. "Wow."

The Director shot her a cute grin, pulling the materialisation lever down, sending them whirring off into the time vortex.

* * *

**Did you like it? Please leave a review! :)**


	7. Chapter 6: A Change in History

**Sorry, no update in a while! But here's a new chapter for you! I'd just like to give a shoutout to my reviewer Wrigt123, who's reviewed the story twice, your good reviews warm my heart! Unfortunately I haven't got any other reviews yet, which makes me quite upset. Please, please leave a review! They encourage me to update more often, and if I do that I might be able to soon send previews of the next chapter to reviewers! So if you can, leave a review! :)**

* * *

The TARDIS made the usual humming noise as she landed, the time rotor halting. The Director grinned, shooting out from behind the console and towards the door. Ashley was curious about where they'd landed, so she followed him.

He stopped at the door, and pulled it open slowly. Peering out, he examined the surroundings and frowned.

"Anywhere in the universe, and we've landed _in a street_?"

Giggling, Ashley stepped out alongside him and admired the place they were in. _Definitely in the past_, she thought, _because it doesn't look familiar to me_.

"London, 2012 by the looks of it."

"2012?!" Ashley gasped. "We're in _2012_!?"

The Director nodded and buried his hands in his pocket. "Indeed we are. Year of the London Olympics, I think."

"But..."

"Ah," the Director interrupted. "You're from New Earth, aren't you? By your time the humans have moved across galaxies and found a new home. But _this_, this is the original Earth."

Ashley couldn't stop her jaw from dropping. She would be the only person of her time _ever _to see the original Earth, Old Earth as they called it. It was destroyed, by the sun. Now only tiny rocks and particles of dust. But here it is, as real as the planet she lived on.

"I don't know what to say!" she squealed, hugging him. "Thank you!"

The Director chuckled, returning the hug. "So, where do you want to go?"

"I don't know!" Ashley grinned, spinning around, getting so excited at the sight of a plain old street. "Can we buy something? Or go get some food? I don't know! Anything!"

The Director took her hand, and entwined their fingers. "You choose."

She pointed to a technology store. "I wanna go in there! What do they have in there, like ancient technology or something?"

Eager to look in the store, Ashley pulled the Director towards it, who stumbled with surprise but soon rebalanced.

"What is that? A computer?"

The Director nodded. "Primitive technology, compared to the stuff Time Lords have... used to have... never mind."

Ashley felt a pang of guilt as a tear rolled down his cheek. She hugged him, burying her head in the crook of his neck.

"I'm sorry about what happened. I wish I could do or say something to make you feel better."

He shook his head. "It's not your fault. It's just every time I think about it it feels as if I'm being stabbed in the hearts."

Planting a quick peck on his lips, Ashley stared sympathetically into his eyes. "I wish I could've helped, you know, save your people or something. I really do."

Smiling weakly at her, the Director gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Don't lose sleep because of me. I'll manage."

"It _certainly _doesn't look like it," Ashley chuckled, bringing up her hand to rest it on top of his. "Anyway, away from this depressing topic, can we take a look around?"

Grinning, the Director put an arm around her shoulder and took her into the shop. A few people milled around, but other than that the shop was almost empty.

"Right, so that's a..."

His eyebrows narrowed as he spotted the piece of technology. It looked like a wrist watch, sat on a shelf as if it was completely normal. But it wasn't. Something was wrong.

"Is it me, or it that a teleport bracelet?" the Director asked to nobody in particular. "Tell me there's no teleport bracelets in 2012..."

"There's no teleport bracelets in 2012," Ashley said.

"Yeah, I didn't mean it literally," the Director said, squinting at the foreign object. "That's like finding a mobile phone in the Middle Ages if you ask me."

They soon found an over-helpful shop assistant by their side. "Can I help you, sir?"

"Yes, you can actually," the Director said, his head motioning towards the teleport bracelet. "What in the heavens is a teleport bracelet doing in 2012?"

The man frowned. Ashley noticed a holographic badge on his shirt: _Michael._

That shouldn't be there either.

"Well," Michael said. "That is a new edition to TechWorld. Came out quite recently, actually."

The Director's eyes widened as he too spotted the holographic badge. "Something is _badly _wrong here."

Ashley swallowed hard. Here they'd come, to have a nice trip out together, and something _had _to go wrong. Hopefully this time it wasn't an alien invasion.

"Ash, let's go."

He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the store before she had a chance to protest, and spun her round to face him, a stern expression on his face.

"Maybe you got the wrong year," she suggested, smiling meekly up at him.

"I never get the wrong year," the Director snapped, sniffing again to make sure. Then he noticed a massive billboard advertising the London Olympics 2012. Definitely not the wrong year then.

_And _the billboard was holographic.

"Like I said, something is badly wrong," the Director ground out, scanning the area to see if any more anachronisms popped up.

"What, has someone changed time or something?" Ashley said, clutching his hand to stop her from shaking.

"That's my guess," the Director said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "But we need to find out at which point time was altered."

"And how are we going to do that?" Ashley asked, biting her lower lip.

"I have _absolutely _no idea," the Director sighed, bowing his head in defeat.

"I'm good at history," Ashley exclaimed. "So I should know how things _should _be. We could always take a look in a library or something."

Head shooting up, the Director grinned down at her, sweeping her into his arms and giving her a brief kiss on the lips. "Ashley East! You are _brilliant_!"

Startled by the sudden burst of affection, Ashley smiled. "Why thank you."

"Come on then! Library!" he beamed, dragging her down the street.

Giving a shriek of surprise, Ashley allowed herself to be dragged across the street by the boy who'd just kissed her. She'd never forget the feeling of his lips on hers; his amazing taste, and how it felt so _right_. It had never crossed her mind that it would be _her_, the one who would be loved by this strange boy who had lost all his people, and felt it was her job to comfort him. She still knew so little about him, she'd barely knew him for that long at all if you thought about it. Yet she trusted him. Perhaps maybe to the length with her life.

"Aha! There it is! I think..."

He sensed Ashley was drifting, so he decided to try and bring her back to Earth.

"Ash? You with us?"

Unfortunately Ashley was still in a day-dreaming state, stuck in an egg shell which was near to impossible to crack.

"Hellooo?"

Still no answer.

Sighing in defeat, the Director realised he had no choice. Ashley seemed to be in a world of her own, a world impossible to get into without either giving her an electric shock or throwing her off a cliff. He disliked both of those options, and there was only one way for it.

Crashing his lips into hers, he hastily slipped his tongue past her lips and began to map out every inch of her mouth. Luckily this method seemed to have had an effect, because Ashley's eyes shot wide open in surprise, and her hands made their way to his hair. Her eyes flickered shut, and when he felt her kiss back, he took it as a sign she'd awoken from her trance and broke away.

"Finally," he huffed. "Look, if you wanted a kiss, you just had to ask."

Shaking her head to completely get herself out of the trance, Ashley smiled deviously at him. "Uh, sorry. Just day-dreaming a bit there."

"That was a _little _more than day-dreaming," the Director said, a hint of worry in his voice. "It was like, I don't know, like you were being controlled or something. Maybe, maybe you were... forget it. Let's go to the library."

Ashley grabbed his hand as he led her towards the library in front of them, barging through the revolving doors and attracting an abnormal amount of attention from the library guests.

"You know, you _are _meant to be quiet in a library," Ashley chirped, and he blushed as everyone ignored him and went back to what they were doing.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," he said, scanning the aisles of books. "Aha! History, over there!"

"Shh!" Ashley barked, elbowing him gently in the ribs. "Quiet!"

Scowling, he raced off through the library and towards the History aisle. Despite her many attempts to try and get him to be quiet, Ashley realised she'd failed. He was _never _going to get used to the human style of things. Maybe on his planet they weren't quiet in libraries, she'd never know.

"Ash! Over here!"

Growling in frustration, Ashley stormed over to towards his exuberant figure, brandishing a History book in his hands.

"I said _quiet_! You're showing me up here!"

Deliberately ignoring her, the Director flicked through the book. "You know human history better than me... ah, actually I might be wrong there. I know the history of almost every single planet in the known universe."

"Stop being so arrogant," Ashley snapped, snatching the book from his grasp, and flicking through the pages herself. "Romans, Middle Ages, Victorian Era, this stuff is all _ancient_."

"Pass that here," the Director whispered, and Ashley whooped triumphantly inside that he'd finally gotten her point about whispering in a library.

His eyes widened when he finished flicking through the book. He stared up to Ashley, his face unreadable.

"What, what is it?" Ashley asked.

"Look for yourself," he said simply, passing the book over to Ashley. She shrugged and flicked through. When she found nothing of particular weirdness, she passed the book back.

"Well I can't see anything wrong."

"History's changing," the Director said, scratching his chin. "It's even effecting your memories."

"What it it? Tell me!"

"Think of a big event, in fact _two _big events that happened in the early twentieth century."

Then it struck her. "The two World Wars."

Sighing in relief, he hugged her. "Good, not quite erased yet. Yes, that was what I was implying."

"What about them?"

"They're not in the book."

* * *

**Ooh, cliffhanger! It would really make me happy if you reviewed, or favourited! If you're lucky I might bring the next chapter out today as well, I'm in a bit of a writing mood at the moment. If I can get some more reviews I'll definitely bring it out! I'm currently working my best to make the next chapter a good one, and it would be really nice if you told me what you think! ;)**


	8. Chapter 7: The Time Meddlers

**I am SO sorry everyone! I've just started a new year at school and I have lots of settling in and tons of homework and I've been ill over the past few days. I just haven't been able to write. I'm so sorry for the 2 week wait!**

**In this chapter, the first part is kind of funny, but if you don't like seeing people getting slapped around a bit, then I don't recommend part of the start of this chapter. There is also a brief mention of a topic I don't find funny at ALL. **

**Enjoy the chapter and sorry for any mistakes/typos!**

* * *

Her jaw dropped instantly, an expression of utter shock on her face. "What!?"  
"Someone's changed time," the Director said, running a nervous hand through his hair. "Which is extremely very not good."  
"So what are we going to do?" Ashley asked, her heart pounding.  
"Find out exactly who changed it," the Director said, shoving the book back onto the shelf. "And when."  
"It must've been changed when it first started," Ashley suggested. "Which if I remember rightly; is the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand."  
"You're very knowledgeable, especially for a subject that happened over a few billion years ago," the Director grinned.  
"We learn about all this stuff."  
"Anyways, we need to get to the TARDIS, pronto," he said, his tone serious. Grabbing Ashley's hand, he pulled her towards the library exit, gaining a few puzzled looks from the surrounding people.  
With the streets crowded, it was difficult to make it back to the TARDIS. They ended up with a few bruised limbs before finally making it to the doors of the time machine. The doors swung open, and both bounded inside, the Director immediately dashing up the steps to the console, and beginning to pilot his time machine.  
"So, we need to go to the date of this assassination. Which is June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo, according to my trusty TARDIS."  
"What are we going to do?" Ashley leaned against the railing, a worried expression crossing her face.  
"Someone obviously changed this fixed point in time. Which is extremely bad," the Director explained. "We need to find whoever changed it, and stop them."  
She smirked, "How are we going to stop it?"  
He dramatically pulled the materialisation lever, sending them whirling off into the time vortex. "I just said."  
Pouting, Ashley sauntered down the steps and stopped at the door. "Okay, okay, Mr clever-cloggs. Let's get on with saving the world."  
The Director was soon by her side, grinning manically like he did whenever they were about to have an adventure. Pulling open the door, his eyes widened as he realised he was anywhere but Sarajevo.  
"Where on Gallifrey are we!?"  
As soon as Ashley stepped out the door, she burst out laughing. "What the hell?!"  
Instead of Sarajevo, they were somewhere completely different. The 'trusty' TARDIS had brought the pair of ever-reddening teenagers to a strip club.  
"Is she doing a dance or something?" the Director asked, utterly clueless to why some woman would be prancing around on a stage wearing only a bra and knickers.  
"No, Director," Ashley said between giggles. "She's a stripper."  
"Sweet Lord," he spat, going bright red. "I bet the TARDIS is laughing her damned arse off in there."  
Ashley had tears streaking down her face. "Look at you! Bright red!"  
"I can't believe she brought us to a bloody strip club!" he snapped, "We're meant to be saving the world here and she's playing pranks on me!"  
"Ah, no!" he said, getting increasingly worried, "She's taking her bra off! We've gotta get outta here!"  
But when he tried the TARDIS door, it refused to open.  
"Shit! Do you think I enjoy this or something! You're showing me up!"  
He could here the TARDIS laughing inside his head.  
"The lives of billions of humans are at stake and you're busy playing practical jokes on me!?"  
Just as Ashley peeked out of the corner of her eye, not on purpose, she collapsed to the ground in shock. Cussing under his breath, the Director bent down to see if she was alright.  
"See! Now look what you've done! You've shocked the living daylights out of her!" the Director shouted at his machine, which seemed to ignore him. "Stop this! I'm serious!"  
As he stood up, he was pinned to the door of his machine, two gleaming eyes drilling through him.  
"Hello there," the person hissed, running their hands all over his torso.  
He knew the TARDIS was trying to show him up, but he wondered why. What had he done bad to her? She probably wasn't going to let him in even if there was an alien girl trying to touch him up.  
"I'm taken," he breathed, and gasped as the girl, who looked no older than 15, moved her hands up to his face.  
"You're a handsome one," she purred, peppering kisses on his cheeks. "How do you fancy a bit of private time, just between you and me."  
"What!?" he gulped, trying to struggle out of her iron-strong grip. Even for a girl of her slim stature, she had a strong grip that even he couldn't wriggle out of.  
She began undoing the buttons of his shirt, which was rather distracting. "I said, how about some nice private business between the two of us?"  
"I can't," he said, trying to stop her, but she just pinned his hands to his sides. "I'm only 208, way too young."  
"Two hundred and eight," she hissed in his ear. "Where are you from, gorgeous?"  
"Why would you want to know that?" he spat, struggling with full strength against her grip. "Stop this. I'm taken, and even if I wasn't, I can't do this."  
She pressed her lips to his, and invaded his mouth with her tongue, obviously a woman of experience. He growled in frustration, trying to wrench away from the kiss. She was too strong.  
"Help!" he yelled, muffled by her mouth on his. He wriggled and tried to tear her head away, but it wouldn't work. Ashley would wake up soon, she'd help him. Or get the wrong impression.  
He shrieked and almost leapt out of his skin as he felt her palm him through his trousers. He was barely a kid, there was no way he was going to give into her, no matter how hard she teased him.  
Finally she pulled away for air, her eyes clouded with lust. His were clouded with fury.  
"I'm serious here! This is... this is perverted! Paedophile!"  
She only laughed, pouting her lips at him. "If you say so you..."  
She was interrupted when a pair of muscular hands gripped her arms. The girl screamed as she was wrenched away from him, and the Director sighed with relief.  
The man looked like he pumped weights. "Fellay, what is this!? You're trying to get a bloody kid!?"  
Fellay shook and trembled with fear. "Sorry, I was just trying to..."  
"You will shut your mouth!" he boomed, slapping her around the face, leaving a stinging red mark. "You know this could damage our reputation! Coming onto a kid like that?"  
"I'm sorry," she was now crying, as she was dragged off by the man. The Director winced as he realised that she was probably being forced into doing this, and he felt a pang of sympathy for her. She'd no doubt get beaten for this, or worse.  
Meanwhile, he tried to regain his breath from what had just happened. Quickly redoing his buttons up, he leaned back over Ashley, who was now waking up. She rubbed her eyes and sighed, finding his blurry outline to be the first thing in sight.  
"Director? You have lipstick smudges on your mouth, what happened?"  
"Long story," he said, holding out a hand for her to take. She took it and he pulled her up. "This girl kinda came onto me."  
Ashley frowned. "Did you kiss her?"  
"No, I certainly did not, she kissed me."  
"Well good, because if you did, I would've stuck your sonic screwdriver where the sun don't shine!"  
Gulping in fear, the Director blushed bright red. "I swear, she came onto me."  
"I believe you," she smiled, pecking his cheek.  
"Thanks," he snaked his arm around her waist as the TARDIS finally let them in.  
His face turned from happy to worried as he caught her frowning at him.  
"Prove to me you still love me."  
"Ash, this isn't the time. We've wasted enough time already and billions of lives are at stake if we don't act soon."  
"All I want is a kiss," Ashley gave him her best puppy eyes as he walked to the console, flicking a few levers.  
"Later," he said, leaning against the console as the TARDIS time rotor went up and down. But she pinned him against the console and looked pleadingly into his eyes.  
"Please?"  
"Ash, later, OK? I promise."  
She stuffed her hands up his shirt and began clawing at his chest. He let out a strangled moan, before trying to shift from her grip.  
"Pretty please?"  
"Ash, billions of human lives are at stake, and you're touching my chest!?"  
"Yes," she hissed, kissing his neck. "I am."  
"Please, Ash, you need to stop."  
"Why should I?" she grinned, leaning in to press a quick kiss to his lips.  
"Because..." her actions were too distracting for him to think straight. "We need to..."  
"Have a nice little kiss and then we can save the world?" Ashley smirked cheekily, running her fingertips lightly over his abs.  
He shivered. "What the hell."  
Grabbing her by the hips, he covered her mouth with his, taking her completely by surprise. She sighed contently into his mouth as his tongue darted past her lips, exploring the depths of her mouth. Her tongue met his, and it soon became a battle for dominance.  
Their lips moved in unison, and their hands ran all over each others' bodies. Eventually they needed to break for air, and even being a Time Lord with a respiratory bypass, you still need to breathe.  
Ashley gave him her sweetest smile. "Thank you."  
"Sorry I shouted," he said. "It's just I've had a stressful time over the last few days, and it's really got to me."  
"I'm here," Ashley said in her most soothing voice, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close.  
"I know," he sighed, burying her head in his hair. "That's why I need you – someone to love and love me back, someone to fill the gap I've lost. I lost all my family and friends, and have no one who loves me any more. But now I have you."  
A lone tear rolled down Ashley's cheek. "I will always love you."  
"But that's it," he said, "I'll have to watch you die. I'll live on for however many centuries and I won't have you."  
"I'll be here for as long as I can," Ashley reassured him, stroking his back. "Forever."  
Sighing, the Time Lord wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye. "I love you with both my hearts, my lovely Ash with the beautiful red hair."  
She giggled. "Thanks. Your hair is beautiful too."  
Smiling, he kissed her forehead before running down the steps and to the door. "Adventure awaits! Come on!"  
Ashley let out a girlish squeal before joining him at the door. He swung it open, and peered out, greeted by the sight of a street.  
"We're here! Now, time to find out where time was changed."  
Ashley was about to step out, but was stopped by the Director's arm in her way. "Stay here and watch."  
Ashley swallowed hard, as a car turned around the corner. The Director constantly shushed her as they watched from down the street as a man emerged out of a shop.  
"That's the dude who shot him, I think. Now let's see what happens."  
Just as the car stops temporarily, the man pulls a gun from his pocket and shoots through the window. Ashley winced as she heard the gunfire and the body in the car fell limp. She turned to see the shocked expression on the Director's face.  
"But that's what started it! How could this happen? Ashley, come with me now."  
She let herself be pulled inside the TARDIS, the door slamming shut behind her as the Director fiddled urgently with the controls, his face contorted with worry.  
"What's happened? What's wrong?"  
"If I'm correct, someone should've stopped that assassination. A bad guy. But they didn't. No one did."  
The his face lit up. "Yes! That's it! I sensed some sort of time field around there, as if a paradox was in place. We go out there now, and we could see a whole different version of events as time pivots around that point."  
He ran to the door, Ashley quick behind. Throwing the door open, he found himself in the same street, at the same time before the assassination. The car pulled up, but before the man could shoot the Duke in the car, a shadowy figure in a hood appeared in the distance. The Director's eyes widened as the figure raised what looked like a gun and pointed it as the man. Just as he was about to fire, a new figure emerged from behind. The Director couldn't make out what the person looked like, but whoever they were, they had an accomplice. They withdrew a device from their pocket and pointed it at the hooded figure. Green light emitted from the tip causing the figure to disappear. Soon the two others vanished down the street.  
The gunshot fired. The Duke was dead.  
"I don't understand," the Director shook his head, leaning against the closed doors and burying his head in his hands. "Who was that person? How did they know how to stop that guy? And if time is back in place now, what has happened to the Earth?"  
"This is confusing," Ashley said. "Who was that person?"  
"I don't know," the Director said, taking the TARDIS back to 2012 Earth. "But we're going to find out."

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**Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter coming soon.. and don't forget to review! I'll update more if you review, I promise :3**


	9. Chapter 8: A Break From Adventure

**Thanks for the reviews! A nice little chapter of pure fluff and flirting.. enjoy and review!**

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Sunlight poured into their pupils as they stepped out onto London turf. It was a bright day, the sky cloudless. The Time Lord took Ashley's hand, and scanned around.

"No holographic billboards, no weird technology, I don't understand."  
"Well, it saves us a lot of work, because someone's obviously beaten us to it," Ashley grinned.  
"But how? How can someone else know that that was going to happen? They must have a time machine – but that's impossible."  
"Maybe it isn't," Ashley suggested.  
"It is. Time Lords were the only race to have proper time machines, except for dull old vortex manipulators," the Director explained. "Someone could've used one of them, I suppose."  
"Forget it, Diro. We can have a break now, some cool dude's done the work for us."  
"Am I Diro now?" the Director smirked.  
"Yes you are. It's your new nickname," Ashley said.  
He chuckled to himself. "Diro, that sounds like some rocker or something."  
"Rockers are cool. So are you," she pecked his cheek.  
"You're a flattering one," he remarked, squeezing her hand a little tighter. "Want something, do you?"  
"A kiss?"  
"I gave you one only a few minutes ago."  
"Another?"  
"In the middle of a street?"  
"You're excellent at kissing, that's why," she hissed, kissing his shoulder.  
"Hmm," he smirked, "Maybe later."  
"So, are we going to have a break, maybe chill on a beach, or what?" Ashley asked.  
"I like the idea of a beach."  
"I like the idea of you just in trunks."  
"Flirt."  
"Always."  
They'd soon turned back to the TARDIS and were heading inside. Ashley was fiddling suggestively with the top button on his shirt.  
"Ash, what are you trying to tell me?"  
"Isn't it obvious?"  
"Yes, but I'm going to do that in a minute."  
"Take your shirt off now, Diro."  
"Why should I?"  
"I want to see your muscles," she purred, stroking his cheek with the tip of her finger, gazing lovingly into his eyes.  
"You're quite the charmer, aren't you?"  
She smiled. "Off. Shirt. Now."  
Sighing in defeat, the Director unbuttoned his shirt and slid it off. Ashley's eyes lit up, she was obviously pleased with the sight.  
"Do you work out?" she raised an eyebrow.  
"I pump a few weights, pound a few punch-bags, bench press a few tons of metal, but nothing major."  
She burst out laughing. "You're the charmer here!"  
"I do my best."  
"You're such a hunk," she grinned, leaning closer and pouting her lips. Her finger ever-so-gently stroked his cheek.  
"You know," Ashley said, eyes darting down to look at his chest, she couldn't resist herself. "I think you deserve a treat."  
She pressed her lips to his, raking her nails down his chest. A soft moan escaped his lips as she pinned him against the wall. His naughty hands slid under her shirt, going somewhere they shouldn't.  
He felt her smile into the kiss as he gently stroked her smooth heated skin. When they finally broke away, she folded her arms and stared expectantly at him.  
"Yes, beautiful?"  
"Beach?"  
"Oh yeah, I did have one in mind, the golden beaches of Peassa," he grinned, dashing back up to the console and piloting his beloved time machine. "It has the most golden sand you'll ever see, and bright purple sea. Best of all: it's sometimes completely empty."  
"Are you suggesting something?" Ashley smirked.  
His cheeks turned a bright shade of red. "Uh... oh, Ashley, you naughty girl."  
She giggled to herself. "I was just teasing you, Diro. Although in a few years time..."  
"Off that subject," he said. "We have a beach waiting outside. Go find some swim clothes in the wardrobe. Get a move on!"  
Ashley disappeared into the corridor complex in search of the wardrobe.

(line)

The sight of Ashley in a glamorous purple bikini, red locks cascading over her shoulders, made the Director's eyes widen. He awkwardly scratched his head, trying to think of an appropriate thing to say.  
"You look beautiful," he finally managed to say, trying his best to ignore the slight tightening in his trunks.  
Smirking, she skipped down the console steps and stood in front of him. "So do you."  
His fingers toyed with the fabric of the bikini. "You really look stunning."  
"Thank you," she said, leaving a peck on his lips, then striding towards the door. "What are you waiting for? You have hours to ogle me on the beach!"  
Biting his lip in embarrassment at being caught, the Time Lord eagerly followed his exuberant human companion onto the beach. The moment his feet touched the sand, he immediately lifted them off and stepped back into the TARDIS.  
"It's boiling!"  
"Come on, wimp!" Ashley called from half way across the beach. The sight way beautiful, the vibrant, purple sea washing against the shore, picture-perfect hills behind them. Golden sand stretched for miles. But for the Director, the most beautiful out of all of this was by far the girl standing in front of him.  
Taking a second attempt at stepping on the sand, he finally succeeded. He raced over to her, trying to give his feet as little time on the sand as possible.  
"It's beautiful," Ashley remarked when he finally arrived.  
"Not as beautiful as you."  
"Who's the flirt now?"  
"Me."  
The corner of her lip turned up slightly into a slight grin. "Thanks for bringing me here. It's amazing."  
"Anything for you, gorgeous," he smiled, pecking her shoulder. "Swim?"  
With a slight nod, she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the water. "Come on! I'm going to dunk you!"  
"Oh no you won't!" he laughed as their feet made contact with the cool water, which was a relief because the sand was so hot. She giggled madly, kicking water at him.  
"Are you kicking water at me?"  
"Yes I am," Ashley smirked, sending another wave crashing into his chest. He stumbled backwards, spitting out droplets of water that went into his mouth.  
"Hey! That's not nice!"  
He immediately charged towards her. Ashley let out a little squeal, bolting away from him, causing a small amount of water to be tossed into the air from her feet. Unfortunately for her, he was quicker and caught up with her, grasping her round the waist, in which she made a shriek of protest. Wriggling, she tried to free his strong grip but failed.  
"Ha ha, gotcha," he grinned, shifting her so that he held her bridal style. She frowned, gazing into his crystal blue eyes.  
"Now you've got me, what are you going to do with me?" she teased, her hand in his hair.  
He raised an eyebrow, and thought for a moment. "Hmm, maybe I could fuck you so hard that you fall through the mattress."  
She knew he was teasing. "You tease! I wish."  
He smirked. "You'll have to wait a few more years for that, gorgeous. Anyway, I did have something else in mind..."  
"And what might that be?"  
"A dunk!"  
She screamed, giggling as he waded out a few more metres then gradually lowered her towards the water.  
"Diro! You're going to ruin my hair!"  
"I'm evil like that. Maybe I'll ruin it even more later..."  
"Stop teasing me! That's so evil!"  
"I am evil!"  
She continued giggling as she was lowered even closer to the water. Finally he dunked her beneath the water, her scream swallowed by the surrounding liquid. After a few seconds, he brought her back to surface, lifting her up to his lips and kissing her. He could feel her grin against his lips as the water from her lips made his moist.  
When he pulled away, she was glaring at him, her hair dripping wet. "Look what you've done to my hair! I'm going to punish you for that!"  
"How?"  
Managing to free herself from his grip, she tripped him over and he fell face-first into the purple water. Ashley burst out laughing at the wriggling Time Lord beneath her foot, which was holding him down with by the small of his back. She knew he had a respiratory bypass thing which he'd casually told her about, all the better for holding him underwater longer. A smirk crossed her lips as he continued to struggle and cough underwater.  
After a few more seconds, she released him and he sat up, gasping for breath and coughing up water. Ashley was laughing so hard that her face was bright red and she was clutching her sides.  
"Outsmarted by a girl! You douche!" she laughed, still amused by his current state; the dripping wet hair and red-rimmed eyes.  
"Ash... that was extremely immature," he coughed, patting his chest a few times to get rid of any excess water. "I think I may have to punish you aswell."  
Struggling to regain her breath from laughing so hard, Ashley finally managed to look at him. "What are you going to do to me? Dunk me again?"  
Standing up, he stalked over to her, hands on her shoulders, which gradually moved down her arms. "This is a hell of a punishment."  
"I can't wait," she smirked, eyeing the way his fingers were making sensual circles on her skin. They moved around her back, reaching for the clasp on the top half of her bikini...  
"Oi! Pervo!" she yelled playfully as he undid the strap. "You naughty boy!"  
"There's no harm in skinny dipping," he grinned, discarding the offending item of clothing onto the sand and allowing his eyes to roam over her breasts.  
She smirked, reaching for his trunks. "I guess not."  
Just as he was about to speak, she butted in. "Am I going to like what I see?" His trunks were at his hips, her fingers eager to rid of it.  
"Yes, I reckon you are," he hissed, reaching for her knickers.  
"You better not have any naughty ideas," she said, as she finally pulled his trunks down, eyes widening. "Oh my... wow."  
"I don't," he reassured her. "And it's good, isn't it?"  
"Modesty," she shook her head as he stepped out of his trunks and tossed them onto the sand. "Get on with it, take them off."  
He slid her knickers down her legs and admired the sight he was gifted with. "Mmm."  
"Dirty," she giggled as he stared hungrily at her. "Time for a dip?"  
He nodded, and she shrieked as he picked her up. Wrapping her legs around his waist (NOT LIKE THAT) they set off deeper into the water. He set her down, and they both floated in the water, contented.  
"So," Ashley chirped. "Where are you planning to take me next?"  
"My bedroom."  
"Stop teasing me!" she snapped, shooting him a mock glare. "It's evil."  
He smirked. "Where do you want to go?"  
"I don't know every single planet in the universe like you do."  
"I don't know every single planet in the universe!"  
"You claimed too!"  
"I was showing off!"  
"He admits it at last," Ashley said, flicking some water at him. "So how many times have you shown off to me then and lied about your 'incredible knowledge about the universe'?"  
He chewed his lip awkwardly. "Uh, only a few..."  
"Like when you said you pump weights and bench press slabs of metal."  
"I do!"  
Ashley let out something in between a snort and a laugh. "Really now? I'd like to see you try."  
"I can prove it!"  
"How?"  
"I don't know how! I just said that because you know... I was flirting and all that."  
"So you don't pump weights?"  
"Isn't that the sort of thing you say to impress a girl?"  
"Well, I suppose it is, but you still lied."  
Shuffling closer to her, he slipped an arm around her waist. "I'd never lie to you."  
She pecked his cheek, showing she'd forgiven him. "We're chilling at the beach. Let's stop all this, shall we?"  
He nodded, glancing out to the horizon where the sky met the sea. "Looking out there, I can see the two of us zooming around on the TARDIS speedboat the first time we met."  
A smile graced Ashley's lips as her brain drifted down memory lane. "And it wasn't that long ago aswell, but it seems like I've known you forever."  
"I know."  
Letting out a quiet sigh, Ashley rested her head in the crook of his neck. "You've changed my life. It used to be boring until you came. All we did was live a boring old day-to-day life, zooming around to different planets with my mum telling me what to do all the time. Now I can do more – and I'm with you."  
Planting a quick kiss on her forehead, he smiled. "I'm yours until the day I drop, Ashley East."  
"You don't know how much that means to me," she said, on the brink of tears. "I love you."  
He pulled her closer. "And I love you."  
"Off the subject – I need to top up my tan," Ashley beamed, standing up in the water. "Fancy a few hours of lying in the sun?"  
"Whatever my love requests, is my demand," the Director grinned, following her back onto the beach, gathering up their discarded clothes on the way. Two towels were laid out on the sand, and they both quickly occupied them. Resting his hands behind his head and twining his fingers, the Director let the sun beat down on his skin as he gazed up towards the sky.  
"This is the best first date ever," Ashley remarked, turning her head to gaze over to him. He smiled back at her.  
"It certainly is."  
The pair laid in the sun for many hours until the sun eventually got swallowed into the horizon, then they made their way back to the TARDIS and prepared for another breathtaking adventure.

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**Your reviews encourage me to write more, the more reviews, the sooner I'll bring out the next chapter! And if I get to 10 reviews, I'll give out a little spoiler which plays a big part near the end of this story... so I suggest you leave a review! ;)**


	10. Chapter 9: The End of the World

**So sorry I haven't posted a chapter for ages! But here's a nice long one for you. I've decided that because I'm running out of ideas for original storylines, I'm going to take some from Doctor Who for now and change them for my characters, but obviously there will be some original chapters here and there. I also noticed I'm not getting many reviews... so please review so I know people are reading and liking this! It warms my heart with every review! Anyways, enjoy the chappie!**

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Every inch of his skin stung: probably sunburn, he thought to himself. Do Time Lords get sunburn?

The Director was currently secluding on one of the jump seats in the TARDIS console room, just thinking. What if he was to lose her? His beautiful Ashley East? It's a dangerous universe out there, and if he looked away at the wrong time, or got captured, and she died, then he'd never forgive himself.

She had a family. He'd never lay it down; explaining to them that he'd let her die. They didn't even know that she had gone, or where she had gone. They were probably worried sick about her. And that hurt him deep down: should he go and tell them? Bring her back to the cruise ship and let her explain to her family that she was now travelling with him?

Speaking of her, he thought, just as she walked into the room, a smile gracing her features. Or rather _thinking of her_. Because he wasn't actually speaking. Unless he'd been muttering to himself while he was thinking, which was quite likely, being him.

She'd changed out of her bikini, and was now wearing a deliciously short denim skirt, complete with a tight-fitting red vest-top. Her stunning red hair cascaded over her shoulders, falling like waves down her back. It was an absolutely breathtaking sight; and he was sure he'd been staring for at least a few minutes now.

"Ahem," she smirked, "You still in there?"

Awkwardly, he nodded, shaking those distracting thoughts from his head and looking up at her. "Yeah, yeah, I'm here. Just, you know... daydreaming."

"Of course. I could see you staring at me you know, I'm not blind."

"Sorry."

"No need," she smiled, sauntering over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder and leaning against it. "You can ogle me whenever you feel the need."

He felt a slight blush creeping to his cheeks, and swallowed hard, nodding. "Okay."

She began to giggle. "You seem distant."

"I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"You."

Her eyes lit up. "I think about you too," she flirted, her hand moving from his shoulder and into his hair.

"Do you?" he smirked, "What exactly do you think about me?"

A smile crept to Ashley's lips, as she said in a husky tone, "I think," she hissed, moving to sit on his lap, "this... about you..."

In an instant, he felt a pair of lips crash against his own, and a very eager tongue slip into his mouth. His hands moved up her back and became lost in the depths of her thick, red hair, and hers rested contently on his chest, just above his pounding hearts. Their lips moved in perfect unison, their eyes screwed shut in ecstasy as both were lost in the kiss.

Finally Ashley needed to break away for air, and when she did, she gazed lovingly into his eyes. "That's what I think about you."

"And it's what I was thinking about you, too," he said, although he was indeed lying, despite thinking about her like that on several occasions. But this time he was thinking about her in a bad way, worrying about her safety with him.

Ashley shifted off his lap, and leant against the railing, long legs crossed sexily and a hand resting on her hip. The Director leapt to his feet, trying his best to tear his eyes away from her legs as he flicked some levers on the TARDIS console.

"Right! Where to go..."

Then he found Ashley at his side, and he halted when he felt a warm hand resting on top of his. His breath hitched in his throat as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"I don't know, can you suggest a planet or something?" she breathed in his ear, with almost a hint of seductiveness in her tone, although barely recognisable.

"Your choice," he responded, pulling down another lever. Her warm breath on his neck sent shivers down his spine.

"Hmm," she hummed, and began to skip slightly around the console beside him. "I don't know, maybe a bit in the past? Or just take us to some random point? Has the TARDIS got a random setting?"

Biting his lip, he nodded. "Okay then! Random planet, or anywhere in the universe, here we come!"

And with the pull of the materialisation lever, the time machine shook as she was propelled through the stormy time vortex. Both had to cling onto the edge of the console for dear life, and although he knew about the 'blue stabilisers', he thought they ruined the fun a bit. He thought of them more as 'blue boringers', therefore deciding to leave them off for the duration of the flight.

The TARDIS shuddered to a halt, the time rotor in the centre slowing inside the cylindrical column it was confined within.

Grinning, the Director grabbed Ashley's hand and raced to the door, placing a palm on the bumpy wood.

"Out there, could be anywhere, and any time in the _entire _universe."

"Oi!" Ashley said, playfully pushing him out of the way and placing her hand on the door handle. "I want to be first out!"

"I don't think that's a good idea, it could be dangerous."

But before he could stop her, he realised that she had already gone out and the door was swaying back and forth freely in front of him.

His hearts beat erratically in his chest. They could've landed on the edge of a cliff or a volcano, and she could've plunged to her death. And it would be his fault.

"Hey! Diro, come here _now_! Come look at this!"

Sighing in relief the Director opened up the doors, revealing a room with walls and floor made of wood, and steps leading down to a big floor-to-ceiling window, revealing a magnificent view of the Earth. It was lit by the rays of the sun behind it, which also helped to light the small room which they stood in.

His footsteps echoed slightly as he bounded down the steps, standing by her side.

"Wow," was the only word which escaped her mouth. "This is Old Earth, yes?"

"Yes, it is," he said, burying his hands in his pockets and admiring the view. "This is the year 5.5/Apple/26. Quite a while ago, for you, maybe a few millennia. But this, _this _is the day... hold on..." He glanced at his watch. "This is the day the sun expands. Welcome, Ashley East, to the end of the world."

Within a a few seconds, the sun exploded and burst into a ball of bright red flames.

* * *

Two space shuttles zoom towards Platform One, their forms standing out against the rich black background. The space station awaits, and a computerised voice announces:

"_Shuttles 5 and 6 now docking. Guests are reminded that platform 1 forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for 15:39, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite._"

The shuttles dock and the guests within them board the space station, ready to witness the end of the world.

* * *

Ashley followed the Director down a corridor, it seemed to go on forever, infinite twists and turns. Every so often there would be a small slit-like window at each corner, giving a view of the Earth. She'd glance out of them. Despite how many different planets she'd seen on her travels in the _White Nova_, she'd never seen Old Earth from above. It looked almost the same to her planet, but still the slightest bit different.

She just heard the announcement. "So when it says 'guests', does that mean people?"

The Director glanced back at her momentarily. "Depends what you mean by people."

"I mean people. What do you mean?"

"Aliens."

"What are they doing on board this spaceship? What's it all for?" Ashley asked in confusion as the Director extracted his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and began working on the control panel of a door.

He finally answers her question, "It's not really a spaceship. More like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn."

Ashley is still baffled. Why would aliens want to watch a planet be destroyed? So she asks, "What for?"

He answers simply as he finally gets the door open and strides through it, "Fun."

They enter a large observation gallery. The walls of this room too are made of wood, and in front of them stands another large window showing a view to the burning sun. Both stand before the window, fingers intertwined.

"Mind you, when I said the great and the good, what I mean is, the rich," the Director adds, gazing at the planet before him being roasted by the sun.

Then Ashley had a brainwave. "But, hold on, they said something about the sun expanding on a history channel, it was kind of a documentary - it takes hundreds of years."

"Millions. But the planet's now property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there?" He points out to tiny glints of light orbiting the Earth, they look a little like satellites. "Gravity satellite. That's holding back the sun."

Ashley peers out the window at the Earth below her. "The planet looks the same as I saw in the history books. I thought the continents shifted and things."

"They did. And the trust shifted them back. That's a classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over!"

"How long has it got?"

The Director glanced at his watch.

"About half an hour. And the planet gets roasted."

"Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?" Ashley asked, gazing into his eyes, looking for an answer.

"I'm not saving it. Time's up."

"But the people have gone by now, haven't they?"

"Yeah, it's empty, they all left ages ago."

Ashley's gaze diverted back to the window, then the realisation hit her. If all the people on the planet had left, which was definitely good, otherwise if they all died how would she exist? If they'd all gone then she was the last human. Well, the last human in terms that she was the last human on board this ship. Of course there were still humans out there, she couldn't quite remember if by this time they'd discovered New Earth. She needed more practise on her history, she was becoming rusty.

"Just me then," she breathed, biting her lip awkwardly.

She almost leapt out of her skin as a blue man rushed towards them, a look of confusion and worry crossing his face.

"Who the hell are you?"

The Director spun on his heal, shocked at the presence of a blue man in front of him. "Oh! That's nice, thanks."

The man was obviously the Steward, and he looked quite miffed. "But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked! They're on their way any second now!"

After thinking for a few seconds, the Director spoke, "That's me, I'm a guest, look! I've got an invitation!"

Pulling his psychic paper from his pocket, he flashed it at the Steward. "Look, there you see? It's fine, see? The Director plus one. I'm the Director, this is Ashley East. She's my plus one. That all right?"

After studying the piece of paper for a few seconds, the Steward's expression changed from suspicious to embarrassed. "Well... obviously," he nodded.

The Director grinned, then the Steward continued speaking.

"Apologies, etcetera. If you're on-board, we'd better start. Enjoy."

The Director gave him a quick nod, and the Steward walks off. Once he'd gone, the Director showed the card to Ashley. It was blank.

"The paper's slightly psychic. Shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time."

Ashley had seen a lot of different aliens before, but not blue ones. "He's blue," she said, confused. She did actually wonder why she'd seen no blue aliens before.

"Yeah, you've seen blue aliens before, haven't you?"

"Nope, never in my life. Lots of different aliens, but never blue ones."

The Steward stood, speaking into a microphone at the opposite end of the suite. The pair waited in anticipation.

"We have in attendance, the Director and Ashley East. Thank you! All staff to their positions."

With a clap of his hands, a huddle of little blue men, black helmets covering their eyes, begin to scurry around.

The Steward beamed, "Hurry now! Thank you, as quick as we can! Come along, come along! And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest, representing the forest of Cheem, we have Trees. Namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa."

The doors slid open and three tree-people walked out, presumably the ones he mentioned, Jabe Lute and Coffa.

"There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you can keep the room circulating, thank-you. Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, the Moxx of Balhoon."

A weird-shaped blue creature, kind of resembling a small fat man, enters the room supported by a chair on wheels.

The Director smiled cheerily at the different aliens that had entered the room. He was excited, although he knew from Ashley's bewildered expression that she had probably never seen these aliens before. He hoped they hadn't died out by her time, that wouldn't be very good. Or maybe she'd just never seen a creature like them before.

"And next, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme."

A small group of black hooded figures enter the room. The Director chuckled silently to himself at the look on Ashley's face.

"The inventors of hyposlip travel systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen. Thank you!"

More aliens enter the room.

"Cal 'Spark Plug'. Mr. and Mrs. Pakoo. The Ambassadors from the City State of Binding Light."

Once all the guests have settled, Jade, one of the tree-people, approaches the two time travellers accompanied by her two friends, holding plant pots with little shoots in them.

Jade smiled kindly at the Director, "The Gift of Peace."

She takes a cutting and hands it to him, and he examines it. "I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather."

In return the Director grinned, tapping the side of the pot with his finger, "Thank you!"

He handed it back to Ashley, who studied it intently. A cutting from her Grandfather? It was just a little twig.

The Director continued, "Yes, gifts... erm..."

He patted down his pockets, searching for a gift. But he had no such luck, as he carried little around with him.

Finally, he thinks of a last resort, "I give you in return, air from my lungs."

He breathes gently onto Jade's face, and she closes her eyes momentarily. She comments, "How... intimate."

"There's more where that came from," he smirks flirtatiously, but in a jokey manner. Ashley raises an eyebrow, a look on her face saying _you're flirting with a __**tree**__?_

Jade finally replies, "I bet there is..."

Then the Steward continues his speech, "Sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Boe."

A huge head in an equally large jar is wheeled into the room. Just as he greets the guests, the Moxx of Balhoon approached the Director and Ashley.

"The Moxx of Balhoon," the Director grinned, staring down at the weird-shaped alien.

"My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily saliva," he says in a weird high-pitched voice, then surprises them by spitting directly into Ashley's eye.

As Ashley looked disgusted, wiping spit from her eye, the Director laughed, "Thank you very much."

Next, they're approached by the Adherents of the Repeated Meme, their long black robes starving them of identity.

"Ah! The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you air from my lungs," the Director said, breathing heavily all over them. Ashley chuckled to herself, he was an oddball.

In a low, sinister voice, the first black figure speaks, "A gift of peace in all good faith."

In its hands it holds a large silver egg. It hands it to the Director, who grinning, throws it into the air and catches it, then hands it to Ashley. At first she's startled, and the egg slips in her hands, but she manages to catch it just before it hits the floor.

The Steward continues, "And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Trees and Multiforms. Consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth The Last Human."

There are a few audible gasps from the guests as the Director turns to Ashley to see her reaction. The sliding doors open once more to reveal what looks like a vertical trampoline made of human skin. The piece of skin seems to be a woman, because it wears lipstick. Lipstick on a piece of skin?!

Ashley looked shocked at the new addition to the room. She was just a piece of skin!

Then the Steward introduces her, "The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."

Cassandra smiles in a very ladylike voice, "Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference! Look how thin I am."

_Yeah, that's thin_, Ashley giggled internally, her eyebrows furrowing at the sight of this 'woman' in front of her.

Out of the corner of her eye she can see the Director laughing silently but heartily, probably at her reaction. Then Cassandra continues,

"Thin and dainty! I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturise me, moisturise me."

One of the two men in white body suits which wheeled her in uses the canister it's holding to spray some substance onto Cassandra.

The Cassandra announces proudly, "Truly, I am The Last Human."

Ashley finds herself creeping closer for a better look. She looks round the back of the sheet of skin, only to see a few bumps where her eyes and mouth are. Surely she can't live without a heart?! But then she sees a brain in a liquid-substance in a jar beneath the frame which holds her. This really is a rather strange woman...

"My father was a Texan. My mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in the soil."

How can she be completely flat? Surely that's impossible, Ashley thinks to herself as she still examines her.

"I have come to honour them and..." Cassandra sniffed. "...say goodbye. Oh, no tears."

The bodyguard wiped a stray tear from her eye. _How could she even cry?_ Ashley thought to herself.

"No tears. I'm sorry. But behold! I bring gifts. From Earth itself - the last remaining ostrich egg."

A member of the little blue staff enters the room, holding a giant egg and displaying it to the guests in the room. They stare on in amazement.

"Legend says it had a wingspan of 50 feet and blew fire from its nostrils."

Ashley looked confused, surely that wasn't true of ostriches? She'd read in history books something quite different. But she supposed maybe this is what had been passed down through her family? Rumours?

"Or was that my third husband?"

Ashley bit her lip and rolled her eyes, but the Director laughed, hands still buried in his pockets. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet. He seemed happy.

"Who knows! Oh don't laugh. I'll get laughter lines!" Cassandra laughed, then mumbled to herself for a few seconds. Behind her, a massive jukebox gets wheeled into the room by several staff.

Then she began to explain, "And here, another rarity. According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers."

Ashley looks amazed, although still slightly confused. An iPod? That wasn't an iPod, that was a jukebox, invented a good few years before the iPod, as she remembered.

"Play on!" Cassandra beamed, as one of the staff pressed a button, causing the record to fall into place. The 'iPod' starts playing Tainted Love by Soft Cell. The Director bops round appreciatively, and Ashley chuckles to herself. He's obviously enjoying himself.

"Refreshments will now be served. Earth Death in 30 minutes," the Steward announces, tapping briefly on the stand.

Whereas Ashley has a lost, overwhelmed expression on her face. Everywhere she looked there were aliens, not a single human in sight. Rushing from the gallery, she exits through the door. Concerned, the Director starts to follow her, but is stopped by Jabe.

"Director?" she says, snapping a picture of him on a small silver device whilst he looks on bewilderedly. "Thank you."

Smiling, the Director proceeds to follow Ashley, concerned for her safety. Jabe walks off in the opposite direction, meanwhile, the Adherents of the Repeated Meme are offering the Steward a silver egg.

In its sinister voice, the first Adherent says, "A gift of peace in all good faith," offering the Steward the egg within its hands.

The Steward raises his hands defensively, "No, you're very kind, but I'm just the Steward."

The Adherents of the Repeated Meme holds the egg out more persistently.

"A gift of peace in all good faith."

Sighing in defeat, the Steward finally gives in. "Oh, yes. Thank you. Of course."

The Steward takes the egg for the Adherent, and meanwhile, Jabe is having trouble with her computer.

"Identify species. Please identify species," she says to the device.

In response the computer makes a small whistling noise.

"Now, stop it. Identify his race. Where's he from?"

After a moment, she stares at the computer in disbelief, silenced. "It's impossible."

But little did anyone realise, a small metal spider was currently climbing out of one of the eggs in a nearby glass cabinet.

* * *

In another part of the ship, Ashley is looking out of the window at the raging sun. The flames burst fiercely from the huge red ball.

She jumps when a member of staff comes into the room, this time female. She is also blue, like the Steward.

Suddenly, she feels a pang of fear and guilt, "Sorry, am I allowed to be in here?"

The employee looks around uneasily, "You have to give us permission to talk."

Her gaze turns to Ashley expectantly. Ashley looks unsure.

"Uh... you... have permission...?" Ashley was baffled about why you had to give someone 'permission' to talk. It was weird.

Grinning, the woman continued, "Thank you! And, no. You're not in the way. Guests are allowed anywhere."

"'Kay," Ashley says casually, glancing quickly out the window again and then back to the woman, who's typing a code into a panel in the wall.

Then she asks, "What's your name?"

"Raffalo," the woman responds, as if it's just any old name.

"Raffalo?"

"Yes, Miss. I won't be long, I've just got to carry out some maintenance," she says, kneeling before an air vent. "There's a tiny little glitch in the Face of Boe suite. There must be something blocking the system - he's not getting any hot water."

"So, you're a plumber?" Ashley asks, plumbers are gone by her time. They use robots now.

"That's right, Miss," Raffalo smiles. She seems a cheery character, despite her rather dull job.

"They still have plumbers?"

"I hope so! Else I'm out of a job!"

Ashley laughs at her response. "Where are you from?"

"Crespallion," Raffalo says, continuing her work with the air vent temporarily.

Ashley had never heard of Crespallion. "That's a planet, is it?"

"No, Crespallion's part of the Jaggit Brocade, affiliated to the Scarlet Junction, Convex 56. And where are you from, Miss?" then her face turns to guilt, "If you don't mind me asking."

"No! Not at all. Erm... I dunno, a long way away... I just sort of, hitched a lift with this boy. I think I'm travelling with him now, we go all over the place. But I still don't know much about him, there's lots he's hiding from me probably..." her voice drifts off.

After noticing the worried expression on Raffalo's face, Ashley snaps out of it.

"Anyway, don't let me keep you. Good luck with it!" she begins to walk away, leaving Raffalo to her job.

"Thank you, Miss. And-" Ashley turns back towards her. "Thank you for the permission. Not many people are that considerate."

Smiling, Ashley said a final "'Kay. See you later," before continuing her journey. Raffalo nods and smiles, then once Ashley has gone, she takes the cover off the air vent, and the metal clangs on the floor.

"Now then," she smiles, looking inside the dark, metal chamber. Speaking into a small microphone attached to her collar, she says, "Control - I'm at Junction 19 and I think the problem's coming from in here. I'll go inside and have a look."

Her ears prick up as she hears a small tapping coming from within the tunnel.

In confusion, she asks to no one in particular, "What's that? Is there something in there?"

A small metal spider, which was exactly the same as the one which escaped from the silver egg, appeared at the end of the shaft.

"Oh! Who are you, then?" she asks, a wide smile on her face. The spider scuttles away, as if it's frightened.

"Hold on! I... if you're an upgrade I just need to register you, that's all. Oh, come back!"

A red beam of light falls onto Raffalo's face and she notices, as the spider comes back into view.

"Ah, there you are. Now, I just need to register your ident."

Another spider joins the first one.

"Oh, there's two of you! Got yourself a little mate!" she giggles, "I think I'd better report this to control. How many of you are there?"

Then a third spider appears, then a forth.

"What are you? Oh, no. No. Nooooo!"

Raffalo is dragged head-first into the air vent.

* * *

The Steward enters his office and places his egg on a nearby table, then sits down. He briefly listens to Control speaking.

"What's that? Well, how should I know?"

He activates the loudspeaker.

"Would the owner of the blue box in private gallery 15 please report to the steward's office immediately. Guests are reminded that use of all teleportation devices is strictly forbidden under Peace Treaty 5.4/cup/16. Thank you."

While he is talking, a spider has broken out of his egg and run up the opposite wall.

The burning sun sits angrily behind the Earth, a lone satellite hovering over the soon-to-be-gone planet as the computerised voice announces, "Earth Death in 25 minutes. Earth Death in 25 minutes."

* * *

Ashley was sat on the steps in the viewing room, throwing the egg in her hand in the air when she heard the announcement, then catching it again.

"Oh, thanks," she sighs, putting the egg down and turning her attention to the cutting of Jabe's Grandfather.

"Hello! My name's Ashley. What's yours?" When she realises the stupidity of her question, she hurriedly puts the plant down and acts as if it'd never happened.

"I'm talking to a twig," she muses, tapping her forefinger rhythmically on her knee.

Behind her, the spider breaks out of the egg and crawls off.

* * *

The Director's eyebrows furrow when he realises that the TARDIS is being dragged away by some of the staff.

"Oi, now, careful with that. Park it properly. No scratches."

One of the staff walks up to him, squeaks at him, hands him a card and walks away again. The Director reads it - it says 'Have a nice day'. The Director looks at the retreating staff's back as if he or she is completely off his or her rocker, and walks off. A few of the metal spiders scurry up the wall behind him. A few more are running along the air vent.

The spider that came out of Ashley's egg appears to be scanning her hand, but Ashley is completely oblivious. It jumps and runs to the air vent when the Director's voice floats through the door.

"Ash? Are you in there?"

The spider scrambles through the vent just in time, before the Director comes through the door.

"Aye aye!" he takes a seat on the other side of the stairs. "What do you think, then?"

"Great! Yeah... fine. Once you get past the slightly psychic paper..." Ashley giggles, and the Director joins in. There's a short pause.

"They're just, so alien," Ashley says, deep in thought.

The Director looks at her questioningly.

"The aliens. Are so alien. You look at 'em... and they're alien. I mean, I've never seen anything like them... they're so different to any of the the aliens I've seen."

"Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South," the Director chuckles to himself.

"Where are you from, you never told me?" her question surprises him. He bites his lip awkwardly.

"Well... all over the place."

"Where's all over the place?"

"All over the place... you know?"

"Why won't you tell me the name of your planet?"

"It's not as if you'd know where it is!" he snapped, burying his head in his hands. Ashley then remembered – he'd told her, his planet had been destroyed. He was the only survivor of his entire species. That's why he was so resistant to tell her about his planet.

"I'm sorry," Ashley said, guilty that she'd upset him. "I forgot, I mean, about what happened to your planet. I won't ask again."

"No, no, it's fine," he said, shaking his head in shame. "Sorry I shouted – it's just, I don't really like to talk about it."

"You trust me, don't you?" she asked, looking deeply into his eyes.

"Of course," he smiled, wiping a tear from his eye with embarrassment.

"Please tell me, I promise I won't make fun or anything, I'm just trying to help you, make you feel better," Ashley said, hoping she hadn't upset him again.

"Fine," he sighed. "Gallifrey. I'm from Gallifrey."

A huge smile tugged at her lips. "What was it like?"

Taking a deep breath, he put a hand through his hair, slightly worried that he'd probably show himself up if he tried to remember. "It was... it was beautiful. Burnt orange sky over grass, red grass... topped with snow."

Ashley tried to imagine in her head. "It sounds nice."

"The leaves on the trees – they were silver, and when the twin suns rose, they'd light them up like a forest on fire," he said, smiling at the memory, and wiping away a stray tear which seemed to have escaped from the corner of his eye. "And then there was the Citadel, the Citadel of the Time Lords, near Mount Perdition.

"It was a great big building enclosed in a huge glass dome, and then there was the Academy. I'd just finished, I was happy, ready for a proper life, as a Time Lord, when, when..." his voice trailed off as he started sobbing.

Ashley shifted over and sat down down next to him, rubbing his shoulder with her palm. "It's OK. I'm here."

"When... the war..." he wiped the tears off with his sleeve, blushing in embarrassment.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Ashley said, pecking his cheek. "I'm not forcing you to."

He nods solemnly and makes his way down the steps, trying to take his mind off it by looking at the Earth. Ashley is quick to join him, but then they're interrupted by the computerised voice speaking once more,

"_Earth Death in 20 minutes. Earth Death in 20 minutes._"

"I can't believe it though," Ashley says. "Everyone's gone. The sun's expanding. The Earth's going to get roasted."

"I don't actually remember if they've found New Earth by now," the Director says, playing with the bottom of his shirt.

Then Ashley buts in. "But at least they're all safe, I mean. But – hang on, my mum!"

In a hurry, she fumbles in her pocket and pulls out a thin silver communicator. Tapping away, she groans when a red box saying _No Signal _flashes on the display.

"No signal!" she sighs. "Guess we're a little bit out of range."

"Hey, pass that here," the Director says, snatching the communicator from Ashley's hands and getting his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. For a moment Ashley looks startled.

"With a little bit of jiggery pokery..."

"Is that a technical term, 'jiggery pokery'?"

He takes the back off the communicator and points the sonic screwdriver at it. "Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery, what about you?"

"Nah, failed hullabaloo."

"Oooh," he smiles, putting the back back on the communicator and handing it back to Ashley. "There you go."

Ashley taps in her room communicator's number, and a familiar ringing sound comes from the communicator. She holds it to her ear.

"Mum?"

"Oh, Ashley! Thank the _Lord _it's you! Where have you been during the past few _days_?!"

Ashley swallowed nervously. It actually worked then. She was talking to her mum, who was in the _future._

"Oh, I've just been, you know, out," she said, trying to keep up the act. But Hannah wasn't convinced.

"And where exactly is _out_!? With that boy? What's his name, the Director?"

"Yes, with him."

"Where are you?"

"Uh, just, kind of, somewhere," she said, looking at the Director for help and biting her lip.

"Where's somewhere? I want to know, your father and I have been worried _sick _about you! We thought you'd been kidnapped! We called the cruise police and everything! Please tell me you're alright!"

Sighing, Ashley said. "Of course I'm alright, mum. I'm on top of the world."

She giggled at her own joke, continuing, "I'm with the Director. We're... you know, travelling."

"Travelling where?"

"Places."

"Ashley dear, tell me. Where are you?"

"Mum, it really doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I'm happy and I'm safe."

And she hung up.

Ashley lowered the communicator, stunned.

"Think that's amazing, you want to see the bill," the Director chirped.

"That was thousands of years in the future. My mum isn't even _born _yet," Ashley said.

The ship shuddered, startling both of them.

The Director grinned curiously, "That's not supposed to happen..."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Steward's office, he radioed Control, "Well, what was it? I'm just getting green lights at this end." He turned the loudspeaker on, speaking to the guests, "Honoured guests may be reassured that gravity pockets may cause slight turbulence, thanking you."

As soon as it is switched off again, he speaks angrily to Control again.

"The whole place shook! I felt it! I've hosted all sorts of events on platforms 1, 3, 6 and 15 and I've never felt the slightest tremor. I warn you, if this lot decide to sue... I'm going to scan the infrastructure."

After he's pressed a few buttons, he realises something, "What's that?"

Its a spider, and it scurries down the wall behind him.

Then he speaks to Control again, "Control, I don't want to worry you, but I'm picking up readings..." The computer beeps. "I have no idea! Well, they're small, and the scan says they're metal..." The computer beeps again, and the Steward becomes frustrated. "I don't know what they look like!"

Suddenly, he spots the spider, which is now pottering around on his desk next to his mug.

"Although, I imagine they might look rather like that... you're not on the guest list... how did you get on board...?"

The spider looks at him almost mockingly and presses a yellow button on the control panel. The computerised woman's voice booms out again.

"_Sunfilter deactivated._"

In a panic, the Steward says, "No. No!"

"_Sunfilter descending._"

Then the sunfilter does indeed start to descend, causing impossibly bright yellow streaks to burn through the glass, scorching anything in sight.

The Steward cries frantically, "No! Sunfilter, up! No, no, no!"

He fumbles frantically with the buttons on the control panels, but it's too late.

"Sunfilter up! Sunfilter up!" the Steward gets more desperate by the second as the yellow streaks descend closer to him.

Then the blinding yellow light engulfs the Steward.

"_Sunfilter descending._"

The Steward screams. Outside the room, the spider escapes through an air vent.

* * *

The guests are completely oblivious to the commotion, chatting to each other. The Moxx of Balhoon is talking to the Face of Boe.

"...this is the Bad Wolf scenario..."

The Director and Ashley enter the room.

"That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that," he says, fiddling with a control panel next to the door. Then Jabe approaches them.

"What do you think, Jabe? Listened to the engines - they pitched up about 30 hertz, is that dodgy or what?"

"It's the sound of metal, it doesn't make any sense to me," Jabe replies.

"Where's the engine room?"

"I don't know... but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest's suite, I could show you. And..." she gestures to Ashley. "...your, girlfriend?"

Ashley raises an eyebrow. "Tell you what, you two go and pollinate, I'm going to catch up with family. Quick word with Michael Jackson."

She makes her way over to Cassandra.

"Don't start a fight," the Director says, bounding out into the corridor, followed by Jabe.

Ashley watches him leave, and then jokingly calls out to him, "And I want you home by midnight!"

The Director grins back at her with a slight wink.

"_Earth Death in 15 minutes. Earth Death in 15 minutes._"

* * *

Before the Director and Jabe enter the maintenance corridor, several spiders scuttle out of view. Wires line the walls, surrounding big grey pipes. It's quite claustrophobic, barely any room to move.

"Who's in charge of Platform One? Is there a captain or what?" the Director asked, continuing his way down the corridor.

"There's just the steward and the staff. All the rest is controlled by the metal man," Jabe explains.

"You mean the computer? But who controls that?"

"The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another," Jabe smiles.

The Director seems to be pondering her answer, because he's silent for a moment.

"But there's no one from the corporation on board," he finally says.

"They're not needed. This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the alpha class. Nothing can go wrong."

"Unsinkable?"

"If you like. The nautical metaphor is appropriate."

"You're telling me. I was on board another ship once. They said that was unsinkable... I ended up clinging to an iceberg, it wasn't half cold."

Then he stops for a moment. "So, what you're saying is, if we get in trouble there's no one to help us out?"

"I'm afraid not," Jabe says.

The Director grins widely. "Fantastic."

When he starts walking again, Jabe says, "I don't understand. In what way is THAT fantastic?"

Behind them, a spider creeps out of its hiding place.

* * *

Back in the Manchester Suite, Ashley is talking to Cassandra. They are looking out of a window at the sun and down at the Earth.

"Soon, the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy. Down there. Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice," Cassandra sighs. "I had such fun."

"What happened to everyone else? The Human Race - where did it go?" Ashley asks, pretending not to know. After all, if she said she was human too, then Cassandra would probably throw a fit because she wouldn't be the last human any more.

"They say Mankind has touched every star in the sky," Cassandra smiled.

"So, you're NOT the last human," Ashley sighed, resting a hand on her hip.

"I am the last PURE human. The others... mingled," Cassandra begins, "Oh, they call themselves 'New Humans' and 'Proto-humans' and 'Digi-humans' even 'Human-ish' but you know what I call them?" Her voice lowers to a whisper. "Mongrels."

Despite being slightly insulted by this, Ashley continued, "Right. And you stayed behind."

"I kept myself pure."

"How many operations have you had?"

"708. Next week, it's 709, I'm having my blood bleached. Is that why you wanted a word? You could be flatter, Ashley. You've got a little bit of a chin poking out."

"I'd rather die," Ashley spat, disgusted.

"Honestly, it doesn't hurt-"

"No, I mean it. I'd rather die. It's better to die than live like you - a bitchy trampoline," Ashley said, smirking at the _bitchy trampoline _comparison, it suited her perfectly.

"Oh well. What do you know," Cassandra said, slightly miffed.

"I was born on that planet, well, not really _that _planet, but it's still the point. And so was my mum, and so was my dad and that makes me officially the last human being in this room, 'cause you're not human. You've had it all nipped and tucked and flattened till there's nothing left. Anything human got chucked in the bin. You're just skin, Cassandra. Lipstick and skin. Nice talking," and with that, she walked off.

The Adherents of the Repeated Meme watch her leave through the sliding doors.

* * *

The Director and Jabe are still making their way down the corridor, the low ceiling forcing Jabe to stoop slightly.

"So, tell me, Jabe. What's a tree like you doing in a place like this?" he asked.

"Respect for the Earth," she answered simply.

"Oh, come on. Everyone on this platform's worth zillions."

"Well... perhaps it's a case of having to be seen at the right occasions."

"In case your share prices drop? I know you lot. You've got massive forests everywhere, roots everywhere, and there's always money in land," the Director says.

"All the same. You respect the Earth as family. So many species evolved from that planet. Mankind is only one. I'm another. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below. And I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest," Jabe explains, and the Director looks impressed.

Then he points to a control panel.

"Excuse me."

He gets out his sonic screwdriver and starts poking the screen with it.

"And what about your ancestry, Director? Perhaps you could tell a story or two... perhaps a boy only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left..."

There's no answer.

"I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species - refused to admit your existence."

The Director pretends to be concentrating on the scan, but a flicker of emotion passes across his face.

"And even when it named you, I wouldn't believe it. But it was right."

The Director stops scanning. Deep sadness is reflected in his eyes. Jabe's tone is hushed, awed.

"I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist. I just want to say... how sorry I am."

Jabe puts a comforting hand on his arm. The Director's eyes are filled with tears. He places his hand over hers, and a tear falls down his cheek. He quickly finishes the scan and he and Jabe go through a door.

The Director and Jabe find themselves in the ventilation chamber. There are huge fans circulating in there. The Director looks up at Jabe.

"Is it me, or is it a bit nippy?"

* * *

Ashley walks alone down a corridor. The Adherents of the Repeated Meme are coming from the other end. She smiles at them, but the front one strikes her to the ground where she lies unconscious as they drag her from view.

* * *

"Fair do's, though, that's a great bit of air conditioning. Sort of, nice and old fashioned. Bet they call it 'retro'," the Director grinned, scanning another panel with his sonic screwdriver. "Gotcha."

The panel falls off and a spider scuttles out and scurries across the floor and up the wall. The Director and Jabe watch it.

"What the hell's that?" the Director gasped, shocked.

"Is it part of the 'retro'?"

"I don't think so. Hold on."

He points the screwdriver at the spider. However, Jabe fires something up at the spider, disabling it. It comes falling into the Director's hand.

"Hey! Nice liana!"

"Thank you! We're not supposed to show them in public," Jabe says shamefully.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody," the Director says, then his attention turns to the spider. "Now then. Who's been bringing the pets on board?"

"What does it do?" Jabe asks.

"Sabotage," the Director responded, still looking at the spider.

"_Earth Death in 10 minutes._"

"And the temperature's about to rocket. Come on!"

They hurry from the chamber.

* * *

In the Manchester Suite, the aliens mill about.

"The planet's end. Come gather! Come gather! Bid farewell to the cradle of civilization. Let us mourn her with a traditional ballad," Cassandra announces.

Britney Spears' Toxic suddenly blasts out of the enormous 'iPod'.

* * *

The Director and Jabe hurry along - the corridor is filled with smoke and the staff are coughing squeaky little coughs.

"Come on! Get back!" the Director calls over the coughs.

He moves his sonic screwdriver over another control panel.

"_Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising._"

"Was the Steward in there?!" Jabe asked, concerned.

"You can smell him. Hold on - there's another sun filter program to descend."

* * *

In the viewing room, 'Toxic' plays loudly as Ashley wakes up, rubbing her head.

"_Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending._"

Ashley sits up in alarm as the Sunfilter descends, sending bright streaks of yellow light shooting through the glass. She runs to the door and knocks on it frantically.

"Let me out!"

"_Sunfilter descending._"

* * *

The Director runs along the corridor outside the viewing room, and can hear Ashley's desperate voice from within.

"Let me out! Let me out!"

The Director arrives outside the door to attempt to make the Sunfilter rise again.

"Anyone in there?"

"Let me out!" Ashley cried frantically.

"Oh, well, it would be you."

Inside the viewing room, Ashley was being chased by burning beams of yellow light.

"Open the door!"

"Hold on! Give us two ticks!" the Director said, his breath quickening. Ashley was in danger. He had to save her.

The whole room is smoking. "_Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending._"

The display on the control panel says 'Sunfilter Rising'. The Director looks up expectantly.

"_Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising._"

The Director looks pleased with himself.

Ashley sighs with relief. "_Sunfilter rising... Sunfilter descending._"

Oh shit.

From outside, the Director seems to be getting destressed. "This is just what we need. The computer's getting clever."

Inside, Ashley snaps, "Will you stop mucking about!"

"I'm not mucking about, it's fighting back!" the Director said, desperately trying to fix the Sunfilter.

"Open the door!"

"Hang on!"

Ashley runs down the stairs and flattens herself to the floor. "The locks melted!"

"_Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending._"

The Director jabs his sonic screwdriver right inside the wires.

"_Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising._"

Panting, Ashley runs back to the door. The Director cannot open it.

"The whole thing's jammed. I can't open the doors. Stay there! Don't move!"

Ashley sighs, utterly terrified, but still manages to be sarcastic, "Where're am I gonna go?! Ipswich?!"

"_Earth Death in 5 minutes._"

* * *

Back in the Manchester Suite, Jabe is studying her computer. "The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of platform one."

Cassandra speaks up, "How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturise me, moisturise me."

The Director takes the destabilised spider from Jabe's hand.

"Summon the Steward!" the Moxx of Balhoon says.

"I'm afraid the Steward is dead," Jabe says, a hint of sadness in her tone. A gasp of shock ripples throughout the room.

"Who killed him?" the Moxx asked.

"This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe! He invited us!" Cassandra says. The Face of Boe shakes his head.

"Talk to the face! Talk to the face!"

"Easy way of finding out. Someone bought a little pet on board," the Director says, showing everyone the spider. "Let's send him back to Master."

He places the spider down on the floor. The spider scuttles along to Cassandra and looks up at her. Cassandra looks shifty for a moment, but the spider moves on to the feet of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.

"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" Cassandra says.

"That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it..."

The Adherents of the Repeated Meme tries to strike him, but he catches its arm and rips it off. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are. An idea."

He rips a wire out of the arm and all of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme crumple into a bundle of black cloaks. Everyone gasps. Cassandra rolls her eyes.

"Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo!" he nudges the spider with his foot. "Go home!"

The spider ambles back over to Cassandra.

"I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed," Cassandra sneers.

The Director raises his eyebrows and smirks. "That's where you're wrong..."

He's interrupted by Cassandra, "At arms!"

The two bodyguards with canisters on either side of her raise their canisters.

"What are you going to do, moisturise me?" the Director asks mockingly.

"With acid. Oh, too late anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just as pretty face," Cassandra says, assured of her victory.

"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?"

"I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous."

"Five billion years and it still comes down to money," the Director sighed.

"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am The Last Human, Director. Me. Not that freaky little kid of yours," Cassandra says.

"Arrest her!" the Moxx snaps.

"Oh, shut it, pixie. I've still got my final option."

"_Earth Death in 3 minutes._"

"And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? "Burn, baby, burn."" Cassandra says, smirking.

"Then you'll burn with us," Jabe hissed menacingly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but... I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders – activate," Cassandra barked, just then a series of explosions erupted around the ship, shaking it violently.

"Force fields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband," Cassandra giggled, "Oh, shame on me. Buh-bye, darlings! Buh-bye, my darlings..."

In a flash, her and her bodyguards have disappeared.

"_Heat levels rising._"

"Reset the computer!" the Moxx suggested.

"Only the Steward would know how," Jabe sighs.

"No. We can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch. Jabe, come on," the Director says, leaving the room with Jabe in tow.

Before he leaves, he calls back over his shoulder, "You lot - just chill!"

"_Earth Death in 2 minutes. Earth Death in 2 minutes._"

* * *

The Director and Jabe are running back through the maintenance corridor, with the sinister voice of the computer in the background, "_Heat levels - critical. Heat levels – critical._"

Finally they reach the ventilation chamber.

"Oh. And guess where the switch is," the Director sighed, staring at the switch which was at the other end of the room, guarded by enormous fans. It was like a video game.

"_Heat levels - rising. Heat levels – rising._"

The Director pulls down a lever, and the fans slow down.

"_External temperature - 5 thousand degrees._"

As soon as the Director lets go of the lever, the fans start to speed up again. As the Director looks hopelessly at the fans, Jabe pulls the lever down again and holds it there.

"You can't. The heat's going to vent through this place," the Director says.

"I know."

"Jabe, you're made of wood," the Director points out.

"Then stop wasting time. Time Lord."

He grins at her and runs back to the fans.

"_Heat levels - rising. Heat levels – rising._"

In the Manchester Suite, the glass is beginning to crack.

"We're going to die!" the Moxx cries helplessly.

"_Heat levels – hazardous._"

The Director dodges the first fan and runs underneath it. He looks anxiously up at the next one.

* * *

The glass begins to crack. Ashley cowers against the wall.

"_Shields malfunctioning. Shields malfunctioning._"

Rays of sun blast in through the cracks, burning holes in the parts of the metal wall they hit. Ashley screams.

* * *

The Director is still standing before the second fan. He looks back at Jabe who is sweating and breathing heavily.

"_Heat levels - critical. Heat levels – critical._"

The Director dodges under the second fan.

* * *

It's too late. The glass cracks further, engulfing the Moxx of Balhoon in light. He cries out.

* * *

The sun rays hit the wall either side of Ashley. She has never been as utterly terrified before in her entire life.

"_Heat levels - rising. Heat levels – rising._"

* * *

As the Director stands before the third fan. Jabe starts shaking violently. Suddenly, she gasps as one of her hands catches fire. She screams. The Director looks back, shocked. Now there is no one to hold the lever down, the fans circulate so fast that they can hardly be seen, in order to cool the ship down. It is impossible for the Director to get through.

* * *

The walls around Ashley are rapidly burning. _I'm going to die_, she thinks to herself. _But the Director will save me. He saves everyone. Please come for me, Diro, please come for me._

* * *

"_Planet explodes in 10... 9..._"

The Director closes his eyes. All grows quiet.

"_8... 7... 6... 5... 4..._"

The Director, still with his eyes closed, steps calmly though the fan. When at the other side, he opens his eyes and dashes to the switch, pulling it down.

"Raise shields!"

* * *

Ashley has her eyes closed and is shaking. She's running out of hope.

"_...1_"

* * *

The force fields around the ships are reset just as the planet is engulfed in fire. It explodes, leaving the ship completely unharmed.

* * *

"_Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair._"

The glass is automatically repaired. Ashley opens her eyes, panting heavily.

* * *

The Director walks back through the fans. He pauses for a moment to look sadly at the charred and smoking remains of Jabe.

* * *

Ashley walks back into the observation gallery, where all the aliens are sitting around, wounded or dead. The Director walks briskly in a few moments later. He glances at Ashley but does not pause to talk to her. Instead he goes straight to Jabe's companions, mutters a few words to them and then places his hands on their shoulders, leaving them to grieve. He then walks back near Ashley.

"You took your time," she snaps, poking him in the chest. "I nearly died."

"I'm sorry," he says, lowering his head to stare at his shoes. "If I hadn't fixed the shields then we'd all be dead."

"But I forgive you."

"Sorry, what?"

"I said I forgive you."

"You do?"

"Yes."

And with that, she's grabbed him by his shirt and crashed her lips into his. At first he's surprised at this sudden burst of affection, but kisses back, tangling his hands in her soft red hair. It only lasts a few seconds, perhaps 20, until they break away.

Ashley looks slightly concerned at his distant look. "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one - teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two - this feed must be hidden nearby," he strides over to the ostrich egg and breaks it open, and the teleportation feed falls out. He picks it up.

"Idea number three - if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed."

He twists the feed. Cassandra appears before them, apparently in the middle of gloating.

"Ah, you should have seen their little alien faces," Cassandra laughs, before she spots her new surroundings. "Oh."

"The Last Human," the Director smiles smugly.

Cassandra speaks, flustered, "So. You passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join the er... the human club."

"People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them."

"That depends on your definition of 'people'. And that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court then, Director! And watch me smile, and cry, and flutter..."

"And creak?"

"And what?"

"Creak! You're creaking."

Cassandra's skin is tightening. Her eyes are becoming bloodshot and she is getting whiter and whiter.

She begins to panic. "What? Ah! Ah! I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens! Moisturise me! Moisturise me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!"

She's covered in red blotches.

"You raised the temperature," the Director says.

Cassandra says in a terrified voice, "Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, Director!"

"Help her," Ashley says, shaken.

"Everything has its time and everything dies," the Director replies simply.

Cassandra's shrivelling up. "I'm... too... young!"

She explodes. The Director looks completely cold and not remotely fazed. He leaves the room.

"_Shuttles 4 and 6 departing. This unit now closing down for maintenance._"

* * *

The Manchester Suite is now completely empty apart from Ashley, who is standing at the window watching the Earth burn with a very vulnerable and sad look on her face, oblivious to the Director watching her from the doorway. Rocks fly past the window. She turns around when she hears the Director's footsteps as he comes to stand beside her.

"The end of the Earth. It's gone. And we were too busy saving ourselves, no one saw it go," Ashley says, tearfully. "All those years... all that history and no one was even looking. It's just..."

The Director holds his hand out to her, and she takes it. "Come with me."

Both walk away, heading for the TARDIS. It's time to leave.

* * *

**Next chapter coming soon! Please review/favourite and if I get some reviews I'll update quicker, I promise!**


	11. Chapter 10: Black Island

**Quick A/N: I'm also doing another story at the moment, so I've decided that I'm going to try to update this at least every Sunday, and my other every Saturday. If you're lucky I might update in between as well if I have enough time. Anyways, enjoy the chapter, although it isn't as long as the last one. This adventure is going to be 2 chapters long.**

* * *

There was an awkward silence in the TARDIS console room. Neither said a word, they just stood contemplating what had happened over the past few hours. Ashley in particular.

She was the first to break the silence. "Diro, I nearly _died_."

"I know," he sais blankly, secluding on one of the jump seats, lost in his own thoughts. "And I saved you."

"My hero," Ashley smiled weakly.

"That's me, a hero," the Director smirked, earning a dirty look from Ashley.

"Modesty," she smiled.

Leaping off the chair, the Director began twisting some dials and fiddling with the TARDIS controls. "So, where to next?"

Ashley let out a sigh. "I don't know, after all that I fancy a bit of a break."

"A _break_?! You're joking! How boring!" the Director frowned, pulling another lever down. "Come on, can we at least go _somewhere _interesting?"

"Fine," Ashley said reluctantly. "How about you take me shopping on an alien planet?"

"Shopping!? You _have _to be kidding me," the Director said, lowering his head. "We are _not _going shopping. We have all the universe out there."

Ashley sauntered over to him and placed her hands lightly on his shoulders, resting her head on one and whispering in his ear, "Please?"

Now that just wasn't fair. He shivered beneath her touch, and she noticed, smirking, knowing she'd got him.

"Fine," he sighed. "I'll take you shopping."

Ashley grinned and squealed, "Thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah," the Director said. "And I bet I'm going to be dragged around in some boring shoe shop or something. There's plenty of clothes in the TARDIS wardrobe!"

"Oi," Ashley snapped, flicking his arm. "We won't _just _look for clothes. We can go for a drink or something."

Just then she noticed his expression change dramatically. "Huh! I have a _brilliant _idea!"

"What?"

"Planet Zestour 8. They have a little island there, well not really _little_, but it's a popular tourist spot. It's got a nice big shopping centre and tons of arcades. _Hedozgh Blaaxk_, it's called."

"Uh, English please?"

"It translates directly as _Black Island_."

"Oh, here you go," Ashley said sarcastically, resting a hand on her hip. "I know you, a name like that has _got _to be haunted."

A frown spread across his face. "Would I _ever _take you to a haunted island?"

"_Yes_, actually, you _would_. Bit of a ghost hunter, are you?"

"Well, it's a bit more interesting than spending the entire day _shopping_."

"Shut up," Ashley laughed. "So, Zestour 8, is it a nice place?"

"Yeah, s'not bad."

"Let's go then!"

With a pull of the materialisation lever, they were sent through the time vortex. As usual, it was a bumpy ride, and Ashley shrieked as she almost lost her grip on the side of the console. After a few seconds of being thrown about, the TARDIS finally stood still.

"_Black Island_," the Director beamed. "Legend has it, at night ghosts roam the forest. They've even had cases of people going missing."

"Well, _great_," Ashley sighed, "You could've told me this _before _we landed here!"

"Too late now!" he grinned, taking her hand and entwining their fingers. "In the words of a little Italian game character, _Letsa Go!_"

Ashley burst out laughing. "You are _kidding _me! You play Mario?"

"What's wrong with Mario?" the Director asked innocently. "He's cool! Mario's cool!"

"You big kid!" Ashley chuckled. "Mario's for babies!"

"No he isn't!" the Director insisted. "Mario is _sick_!"

"Since when did you start using _sick_?" Ashley giggled, flicking his arm again. "That word is weird. I don't know why people use it instead of _cool_. When I hear that, it makes me think it's horrible or disgusting or something!"

"Oh, sorry," the Director said. "OK, I'm _never _saying that again!"

"Good," Ashley nodded, opening the door. "Come on, then!"

As they stepped out, light blinded them from one of the three suns. The sky was a piercing orange, which sent a tingle of nostalgia through the Director's mind. His own planet had had an orange sky, he remembered how it used to look at night, the twin suns setting, gradually being swallowed by the mountainous horizon...

"Diro!" Ashley was waving a hand in front of his face. "You in there?"

He nodded, shaking the thoughts from his head. "Yeah, yeah, just dozed off for a sec there."

In front of them stood a huge building, with equally large glass windows which reflected the suns' light into their eyes. It was built on sand, and behind it was the forest, presumably the haunted one. Beside the building, which was the shopping centre, stood the arcades and other tourist attractions. Behind them was a beach, which stretched out for a few hundred metres. Washing up on the golden beach was a sparkling blue sea, an amazingly bright and vibrant blue, almost completely transparent. In the distance was mainland, with a few ships dotted around it.

They began to make their way towards the entrance, which was crowded with tourists. Aliens of all different shapes and sizes mingled about, either chatting to another or going home after a few hours worth of shopping.

"It's amazing!" Ashley exclaimed as they pushed past a group of aliens with bright red skin. "Thank you!"

As they entered, they got a chance to see the huge interior for themselves. Ashley would've compared it to the TARDIS, much bigger on the inside. It was absolutely _huge_. Panes of glass covered the domed ceiling, allowing a view of the bright orange sky. A water fountain stood in the centre; bright blue shining water trickling down into the bottom, where little kids dropped coins in. Ashley found that she could read all of the alien writing, courtesy of the TARDIS translation circuits.

She squealed with delight. "This is so _amazing_! I love it!"

The Director cracked a weak smile, squeezing her hand a little tighter. "So, I'll give you some money, then you can go, right?"

She frowned. "Aren't you coming?"

He shook his head in response. "Ash, I'm not really a shopping person. I prefer _exploring_."

"Please come," Ashley begged. "Please, Diro. I don't want to be alone on an alien planet."

"Take this," he said, digging into his pockets and pulling out a small watch-like device. "Press the button if you're in trouble, and it'll home in on my sonic screwdriver and teleport you to me."

However Ashley still didn't seem satisfied. "Diro, _please_. I really want you to come."

"Ash, I'll bore you to death with my rambling. Please take this."

Reluctantly she took the silver device and strapped it to her wrist. "Love you."

He pecked her briefly on the lips before turning in the opposite direction. "Love you too!"

Before he left he quickly handed her a debit card, then walked away. Shopping wasn't his interest. He preferred to find out more about the 'haunted' part of the island. Running a quick hand through his hair, he strode out of the exit and admired the beautiful sight that greeted him. According to legend though, it was only at night when the ghosts came out. So he'd have to wait.

What to do during that time, he thought. Deciding that he didn't particularly want to wait until it was dark, which was a long time because a day on this planet was 46 hours long, he began to walk towards the forest. When he got to beside the shopping centre, the sand turned to leaves and twigs. There was a small alleyway between the shopping centre and a restaurant next to it, which he walked through. Unfortunately, at the end, there was a locked gate.

The Director made quick work of the gate with his sonic, igniting a spark from the lock and causing it to snap open. With his spare hand he pushed the gate open, and walked through it, leaves and twigs crunching underfoot. He could sense something freaky about this forest just by looking at it. Who had forests on a desert island anyway?

Even with three bright suns shining down, the tall trees managed to block out most of the light which hit the forest floor. All different kinds of wild animals squawked and called out in the daylight. The light reassured him, and he followed it, and soon came to a halt at a path.

A path?

Then he noticed. There was a sign attached to the side of a tree. It read: _Ghost Walk Stop 45_.

So there was actually a ghost walk he could go on and he'd just gone through the hassle of breaking open a gate and climbing through loads of bushes. That _had _to happen.

But then he had a thought, the ghost walk must only be on at night. Maybe if he waited until then, he'd be able to go on the walk and have someone explain to him all the details about the legend, because he didn't really know much about it.

Paths were boring. He didn't want to follow a path. He might find something interesting by going _off _the path. Interesting things always popped up off the path.

Deciding that he was going to be a little bit daring, the Director pointed his sonic screwdriver and scanned around, hoping to find something interesting. He began to walk in the opposite direction of the path, pushing through bushes and thick undergrowth. The twigs scraped his bare legs as he continued walking, still scanning. Unfortunately he had no luck so far.

Just as he was about to change direction, the Director stumbled, and fell down a slope. Only then did he realise that it was an electric shock that had caused him to stumble. Crying out, he rolled down a steep slope, twigs and rocks scratching at his skin.

Finally he came to a stop, leaves and twigs in his hair and about a thousand scratches up his arms and legs. Good start then.

Standing up, he brushed the debris from his hair and looked around. He was at the bottom of a slope, he knew that, but where did the electric shock come from? He looked down at his ankle where he felt it, and saw a stinging black mark. Extremely very not good.

At last he was onto something. At least he hoped so, though. Where could he have gotten an electric shock from anyway? Unless it was the power cables leading to the shopping centre, but that was unlikely since they'd probably be insulated...

He tried to walk. But his left ankle where he'd gotten the shock didn't respond. It was like it was temporarily paralysed.

Trying again, he still failed. His brow creased in thought. Maybe it was a trap?

If he couldn't move, he would be useless. Stuck in the middle of a forest with no help. So he did the only thing he could do. The tip of his forefinger lit up with a gold swirling light, and he lowered it to the wound and touched it lightly. Within a few seconds, the burn was healed and he could move his ankle again.

Bouncing on the balls of his feet, the Director turned and looked up at the slope. All kinds of thick bushes and plants blocked his way up. It was also incredibly steep. There was little chance of him making it back up there again. But he was the Director, and he _would _make it back up.

He needed to find out where he'd got the electric shock from. Using his sonic screwdriver he scanned around again, but came up with nothing. No traces. Whatever technology this was it must be pretty clever, to hide itself from a sonic screwdriver.

Once again he began making his way back up the slope. His sneakers weren't designed for climbing up a slope which had dirt which crumbled and sent you sprawling back down again. He was continuously slipping and had to grab onto the nearest plant stem or branch for support.

These were the times when he wished his curiosity wouldn't take over. Now that he'd discovered this the ghost story would probably turn out to be an alien invasion. Everywhere he went, aliens followed. It was like he was a burden, or a curse.

This time he had to take more care. Watch out for traps. Because if he got shocked again, he didn't particularly want to use up more regeneration energy. Sonic screwdriver in hand, he scanned around, not at all reassured by the readings. He knew that this technology was advanced, undetectable, and he could stumble upon one at any moment.

Before he could react, he'd stumbled over a massive tree root. With his hands he tried to cling onto a branch or trunk or anything, but he slid back down the slope again, his shirt lifting up and allowing the stones to get access to his upper body. Yelling out in pain as a sharp rock clawed at his stomach, the Time Lord finally managed to find a branch to hold onto and gripped it with a hand, holding on with all his might.

With all his strength, the Director managed to grip onto the branch with his other hand too. Heaving himself up the slope, he finally found a reasonably flat piece of ground next to the bush and sat down for a few seconds, inspecting his injuries.

On his stomach he had a huge scratch, presumably from the rock. His shirt was ruined, dirt covered and torn apart by the stones. Now he really did regret coming out here.

Just as he was about to get up, he noticed something, like a little device sticking out of the ground. It looked a bit like a Taser, two prongs at the end on a platform which allowed it to swivel around. Swallowing hard, the Director realised that that must have been the device which gave him the electric shock. But this wasn't where he fell, which meant that there must be more than one around.

Scanning it with his sonic screwdriver, he finally got some readings, which he didn't like the look of. It seemed these devices were cloaked from a long range, which meant that you had to get close up in order to detect them. They had an incredibly powerful electric beam, which paralysed the victim for 2 hours. He still wondered why whoever had put these devices here would want to paralyse someone, unless they wanted to come and get them. Hunters, he thought. Maybe hunters.

But just as he was about to stand up, he fell back down to the ground again as he felt a sharp stinging sensation in the side of his head, sending him into backness.

/\\\

When he awoke, he was in a small, dark room. When he tried to move, he realised that he was strapped to a table. To the left he could barely make out the outline of a door. He continued to struggle, his restraints not freeing him, but holding him back. The stinging was still there, at the side of his head. He presumed he'd been knocked out, perhaps by a baton. And he knew for a fact that police used batons.

Maybe then he had been arrested. Maybe what he'd been doing was illegal, and he was in a prison cell. Just then, as if on cue, the door creaked open and a figure in a silver suit walked in, turning a light on. The intense brightness of the light forced the Director to squint.

"What do you have to say for yourself, _child_?!" the figure snapped, its voice low and booming, as if being spoken through an intercom. "Trespassing in the forest. You should _know _that the forest is closed off during the day."

The Director's mouth was dry and he could barely speak, so his voice came out as a hoarse whisper. "Why is the forest closed during the day?"

"It is dangerous in the forest, people have gone missing," the figure explained. "We only open it at night, when we have a professional taking guests around who can protect them if anything goes wrong."

"I thought the ghosts only came out at night," the Director said. "So how come people go missing during the day?"

"They do. But last month we sent a crew of ten in there to fix some cables leading to the main power generator. None came back alive. We think something is inside that forest, maybe a creature, maybe a monster or a demon, but nobody knows."

"A monster or demon," the Director grinned. "Now _that's _more like it."

"It is not safe in there, you must stick to the paths only at night with a guide."

"But what about those electric shock things?"

"We planted them there to find anyone who goes in there and arrest them immediately. We cannot afford to lose any more people to this monster, or whatever it is, it will damage our reputation."

"If there is a monster in there, then how did you manage to plant those devices there?"

"We used robots," the figure replied. "Enough talk, I want to know _why _you were in that forest."

"I was looking around."

"We found that one of the gates was broken through."

"Not me."

"If you lie to me, child, then you'll be in more serious trouble than you already are," the figure barked.

"Fine, that was me."

"So why were you there?" it asked.

"Like I said, I was looking around. I was interested in the ghost legend."

"The ghosts only come out at night."

"You said people were taken during the day."

"Do you have parents?" the figure changed the subject.

"Nope."

"Come with me."

It walked over and undid the chains, pulling the Director into a sitting position by his shirt. It dragged him off the table and pushed him forward, then out the door and into a hallway.

"Where are you taking me?" the Director asked, wincing when the figure thumped part of his back which had been scratched by stones.

"Everyone who goes in the forest unauthorised can expect a punishment," the figure said with sadistic pleasure. "But you are just a child, which means we cannot arrest you like an adult. You will receive a small punishment, then consider yourself _warned_."

Then he was shoved into a room, with another dressed exactly like the figure that took him in here standing next to a giant chair. The Director got shoved onto the chair and his arms chained to the armrests.

"So," the figure said, typing something into a computer. "First we need to do a scan."

The Director gulped when he looked up and saw wires attached to the chair. It wasn't a good sign. He knew for a fact that on this planet punishments weren't light, even for offending children. Of course if you were under 10 you wouldn't get a punishment like this, but he was over so he didn't have a choice.

And worst of all, in the corner of the room, he saw a power box with an electricity warning sticker on it.

Hell, he was in an electric chair. He had to escape.

The scan made him jolt slightly, as the screen in front of the figure showed an internal view of his body, a graph each side with the rate of each of his hearts. He gulped when the figure turned to face him.

"You shouldn't even exist, boy," it said.

"Let me go!" the Director snapped, trying to struggle free of the restraints. "You can't do this! I didn't even know that going into that forest was illegal!"

"You know now," the figure chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll only get a little shock. Then you can go free. But if you do it again, you'll get an even worse punishment."

"Please," the Director said. "You don't know..."

He cried out in pain as waves of electricity coursed through his body. The pain was excruciating, every nerve ending felt as if it was on fire. It was even worse than regeneration.

Gritting his teeth he tried to struggle through as his body fell limp in the chair. Remnants of the shock still pulsed through his body.

/\\\

The next thing he knew was that he was in a white room, tucked up in a plain bed with only a sheet covering him. A nurse stood over him, a mask covering her face. She seemed to be examining the results.

Tiredly he managed to sit up, eyes heavy. A blush crept across his face as he realised he was only in his boxers. His hearts were beating faster than usual, he realised. Probably a result of the shock.

The cut on his stomach seemed to be gone, the same with the scratches on his arms. Then the nurse came over to him, pulling her mask down.

"I am the nurse. How do you feel?"

"Completely and utterly _shit_," he groaned, falling back on the bed.

"I have put a substance on you that heals your wounds. You should feel better soon."

"So this is what you do? Electrocute me then fix me up again?"

"We have to get rid of your wounds. If people find out that we punish tourists like this, then we will have a bad reputation. This planet has strict laws against crime. When you go back, nobody will know that you were even punished."

"But what if I tell them?" the Director asked.

"You won't. You don't know where our base is," the nurse said. "We knock you out then take you back to ground. Then you get on with life as normal."

"Can I have my sonic screwdriver back?"

"All possessions that are considered as weapons must be confiscated."

"It's not a weapon!"

"I'm sorry, but what our analyst says goes."

"Aww, man," the Director sighed. "I love my sonic screwdriver!"

The nurse began to make her way out of the room. "A person will come in soon and take you back to ground."

Back to ground. That must mean that this place is underground.

Once he was certain that the nurse had left, the Director climbed out of the bed and grabbed his clothes, which were completely wrecked. But the prospect of walking around almost naked seemed worse than wearing some tatty clothes, so he put them on anyway. He made his way out of the door, and into a hallway. It was the same hallway as the one he'd been dragged down earlier.

Running down, the Director came to another door at the end. It slid open for him, and he walked through. In this room there were three teleports.

The Director hopped onto one teleport and just as he was about to press the button, he noticed something in the corner of the room. It was a huge rubbish crate, which looked set for someone to tip down the rubbish chute.

Then he spotted something poking out of the heap of rubbish. It was his sonic screwdriver.

Internally he whooped with joy, running over to pluck his prise possession from the crate. He returned to the teleport, eyes scanning over the buttons. Eventually he got fed up of trying to work out which button sent him back up and used his sonic screwdriver instead. Within seconds he vanished in a flash of blue light.

/\\\

His surroundings had changed. It was natural since he _had _been teleported. He was back in the shopping centre, and when he looked up he noticed Ashley staring down at him.

"Diro, you look a _state_. Where have you been?"

"Oh, nowhere in particular. Only to some secret police base, where they electrocuted me then left me in some bed only in my boxers. Then they nicked my sonic screwdriver which I luckily managed to rescue," he explained, standing up.

"Oooh," Ashley grinned. "I would've liked to been beside that bed. What a _wonderful _sight that would've been."

The Director chuckled. "Yeah. I think I need some new clothes. I can't go around in these."

Ashley pecked his cheek. "I'm glad you're OK."

"Would you care to accompany me in my quest to find some clothes, Ashley East?" the Director said in a posh accent, holding out his arm to her.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't have any clothes," Ashley smirked, taking his arm. "But I'll come with you anyway."

Both walked off, spending the hours until it got dark finding some new clothes for the Director, mucking around in the arcade and having lunch in the café. But little did they know that the ghosts were getting ready to come out. They were getting ready to feast.

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**Cliffy! Next chapter coming soon! And can I get some reviews? I get really happy when I see reviews in my emails! If you review I will give you FISH FINGERS AND CUSTARD! :)**


	12. Chapter 11: The Ghost Walk

**Ok, I'm going to continue this story because of the kind review I got from Captain Cynthia, which made me realise that the only hater of my story is probably me! So I'm going to continue and try to make this story as good as possible. At the end of this chapter (it is pretty short, sorry), is a MASSIVE cliffy! Read on and review...**

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Unusually the queue for the ghost walk wasn't very long. During weekends you could be queuing for hours, but today they were in luck; there was barely a queue and they were near the front.

"Seriously?" Ashley complained, placing her hand on her hip. "When I'm scared to death it's gonna be _you _that has to comfort me."

The Director sighed. "Ghosts walks are _nothing _compared to a ship full of Cybermen or almost being burnt by the suns' rays."

"I suppose," Ashley admitted, "But I wanted to go _shopping_."

"Shopping's no fun," the Director protested, "Ghost walks _are_."

They were interrupted as the gate opened, allowing a certain amount of people to shuffle through. A tour guide awaited them. After a certain amount of people had been let through, the gate was closed.

Their tour guide was an alien, with light orange skin and purple hair. It was a humanoid, and looked like a man, unless they had different looks on its planet.

"Hello, guests! I am Mavdegeopiades, but call me Mav, and I'm your tour guide. Now before we go on the tour I'm going to have to explain a few safety rules..."

Ashley fought off a shudder as the cold wind stung her bare arms. It was starting to get dark, all the better to get even more scared on a ghost walk. The silhouettes of the trees hung over the sand of the beach behind them, creating spooky shapes which made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"Now, keep to the path, and let's go!" Mav stated before taking to the path. As they walked all that could be heard was their feet on the gravel path and the occasional chirp from the wildlife. It was freaky.

"Diro," Ashley stuttered, grabbing his arm, "I'm _freezing_."

"Maybe it's a ghostly presence," he joked.

"Shut _up_!" Ashley shot back playfully, elbowing him in the ribs. "I hate ghosts."

"Ash, if I had a coat, I'd give it to you but all I have is my shirt."

"Take it off."

"I _can't_."

"I'm _cold_, Diro. Please can I have your shirt?"

"_Ash_, I can't take my shirt off. I've got nothing underneath."

They almost bumped into the people in front of them as they came to a halt. The tour guide was pointing at a tall tree, its long trunk battered with scratches.

"Legend says that the ghost of a vicious wolf claws at this tree each night..."

When Ashley turned to her side she noticed that the Director had disappeared. Her pulse increasing, she glanced around, and sighed in relief when she saw him crouched down by the side of the path, sonic screwdriver in hand.

She rushed over to him and bent down by his side. "_What _are you doing?"

"Nothing," he said unconvincingly.

"What are you doing?"

"I said nothing."

"What are you doing?"

Sighing in defeat he realised that she wasn't going to let the subject drop. "Fine, I'm scanning with my sonic screwdriver."

"Scanning _what_?"

"Things."

In irritation Ashley jabbed him in the ribs. "Diro, _tell _me."

Before he could say anything the group had started moving. Although he wasn't here for the tour, he had to look like he was in the group.

Leaping to his feet, he quickly caught up with the group, Ashley in tow. The tour guide was busy explaining legends that he wasn't even listening to, because he knew about it all anyway.

"Diro, I'm _c-cold_," Ashley moaned, wrapping her arm around his waist and pulling him close to her body, snuggling her head in the crook of his neck.

"Shh, I heard something!" the Director snapped, breaking out of her embrace and glancing around hurriedly. For a second he'd sworn he'd heard a rustling in the bushes.

Ashley's heart pounded in fear. "What did you hear?"

"Shh!" he barked, ears pricking up so he was ready to hear the slightest movement.

There it was again. A sinister rustling, not too far from where they were standing.

"What was it?" Ashley's voice trembled as she clutched his arm tightly. "Diro, please tell me. I'm scared."

"It might just be normal wildlife," he suggested, "But I think it's a bit too big."

"How do you know?"

"I saw a shadow."

"Is that bad?" Ashley asked.

"Well, yes, it might be. But it depends whether the creature is out to kill us or not. Which I -"

He felt a lost presence on his arm. Then he heard a scream.

Whipping around, he realised Ashley wasn't there.

"NO! Ash! Where are you? Can you hear me?"

Hearts beating like batons against his ribcage, the Director quickly scanned the area, in hope that she'd be around. But she wasn't anywhere. Not a trace.

He buried his head in his hands and yelled, "NO!"

Falling to his knees, he fought off tears. If she'd been captured, she could be tortured, or worse, killed. And if anything happened to her, he wouldn't forgive himself.

Leaping to his feet he charged through the bushes, sonic screwdriver in hand, the yellow tip lighting the way. Sticks crunched underfoot as the enraged Time Lord stormed forwards, eyes darkened like balls of ice. Whoever had captured her, he was going to find them, and make them pay.

No one hurt his Ash and got away with it.

The forest seemed to go on forever. The further he got, the more angry he became. It seemed he was going to get nowhere.

Growling in anger he began to scan around with his sonic screwdriver, but got no readings. In rage he shoved it back inside his pocket and slumped against a tree trunk, twigs tickling his bare skin. His eyes flickered shut as he tilted his head towards the sky, begging all the Time Lord Gods out there that they'd take him to his Ash.

Suddenly he felt claws digging into his leg. Crying out in pain his eyes shot open and before he could react, he was being dragged along the ground. Whatever was dragging him had an iron grip.

Then he felt a weird feeling around his body, as if he'd just been teleported. Slightly dazed, he tried to open his eyes, but when he did, all he was greeted by was blurred vision. The claws were still digging into his leg, and he was still being dragged, but this time along a floor, not across the ground.

Once again, his clothes were going to be ruined. Great.

He heard the sound of metal clanging behind him, and finally managed to open his eyes, finding himself in a dark room. He could just make out the shapes of bars surrounding him. It was a cage.

Two shadowy figures were slumped against the wall, he couldn't make out their faces. His muscles were stiff, but after some effort he managed to sit up. Crawling towards the figures, he noticed one was Ashley.

"Ash!" he whispered, poking her shoulder. "Thank Rassilon! Are you OK?"

No response.

The figure next to her was larger, and looked like a man. He looked human. But when the Director tried to sense what species he was, his senses got all mixed up. Weird, that didn't usually happen.

They were they only three in the cell. Unfortunately he seemed to be the only one who was conscious.

Eventually his eyes adjusted to the light and he could make out some more features of the man. As far as he could see, he was wearing some sort of jacket and – what was that? A bow tie?

Stifling a giggle, the Director leant against the wall next to Ashley and rested an arm around her shoulders. Hopefully she'd wake up soon.

A few minutes later, he swore he'd heard a sharp intake of breath from the man next to them. That must mean he was waking up.

The Director saw the man's eyes flickering open, then his hands reaching up to rub them.

"Where am I?" the man asked no one in particular.

The Director cleared his throat in an effort to make the man notice him. Quickly he spun around, eyes widening when he spotted them.

"Uh, hello there," the man beamed, shuffling over a bit.

"Hello?" the Director said.

"What are you doing here?" the man questioned.

"Dunno, I was kind of dragged here," the Director responded.

"Same," the man reported, scratching his head in thought. "Anyway, how rude of me not to introduce myself! I'm the Doctor!"

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**Cliffy! Please tell me what you think in the reviews, hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	13. Chapter 12: The Doctor

**Sorry for the long wait! I've been quite busy recently, schoolwork, writers' block, etc etc. Feel free to throw a fez at my face ;) Anyways, on with the show. Bit of a short chapter, sorry about that.**

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The Doctor? Why did that seem so familiar to him, but he couldn't remember? When he searched his memory, nothing came up. Nothing.

"Um, hi," the Director cursed under his breath at how dumb he sounded. "I'm the Director, and this is my... uh, _girlfriend_, Ashley."

As he watched the Doctor's face when he said his name, he saw a slight change in his expression. Similarly, it was if he _knew _the name, but couldn't remember how it was connected to him, or if it even _was_.

"The Director?" the Doctor found himself thinking out loud. "Oh, sorry! Just me talking to myself. Now, do you have any idea on how to get us out of here?"

"Not really," the Director sighed, rubbing Ashley's shoulder affectionately.

"Well, I seem to have lost my sonic... oh, doesn't matter, but it could've been our way out of here."

Sonic? The Director's mouth dropped open a little. "Sonic what?"

The Doctor's brow creased. "Sonic screwdriver. Does it matter?"

"So do I," the Director said in shock, reaching into his pocket, glad that his was still there. "Ta-da!"

As soon as he said that, he smacked his temple in embarrassment, whispering to himself under his breath, "Oh, I'm _never _saying that again."

"How come you have one too?" the Doctor asked, reaching out and snatching the Director's sonic screwdriver from his hand.

"Oi! That's mine! Don't think cos you've lost yours that you're having mine as a replacement!"

"How... this is the same model as mine! But yellow... how? Only my TA... sorry... complicated, but only my ship and its Links can produce this model."

Links. That was a Time Lord-y word for TARDISes that were connected telepathically to each other, usually those of families. For example if a parent had a TARDIS, and so did their child, they could connect their TARDISes together.

"What?" the Director's hearts were pounding. Surely he was the only surviving Time Lord, he'd thought that, but could this man be one too?

"How can you have this?" the Doctor pondered, turning the slim device over in his hands. "It's simply impossible."

"Only your what? How were you going to finish that sentence?"

"Only my..."

"**TARDIS,"** they both said in unison, then continued to stare intently at each other.

"**Did you say TARDIS?" **

Both their brows furrowed, as they stared each other down.

The Doctor pointed the sonic screwdriver at the Director, using it to scan him up and down.

He checked the readings. "Nothing. Cannot compute. How? Are you wearing a perception filter or something?"

As soon as they heard the opening of a door, both resumed their normal sitting positions against the wall. Ashley still hadn't woken up. She'd obviously been given a heavier sedative.

Boots thumped down the hallway then arrived at their cell door, in the shape of two humanoid figures. With a metallic _clang_, their cell door was unlocked and one of the figures stepped inside, the other remaining outside to guard the door.

"Oh dear," the Doctor muttered as the guard began to close them down, reaching in the middle to pick up Ashley underneath her arms and beginning to lift her up and out of the cell.

"No!" the Director cried, but the Doctor gripped his wrist and pulled him back down next to him. "Leave her alone! Don't you harm her or you'll have _me _to deal with!"

"Shh," the Doctor comfortingly rested a hand on his shoulder, gently rubbing with his thumb. "We'll save her, don't worry."

The Director watched on in horror as his Ash was dragged out of the room, as the second figure locked their cell door and left with the other, the door of the prison slamming shut behind them.

He then turned to the Doctor with wide eyes. "You said _the Doctor_, I _swear _I've heard that name before..."

When their eyes met, emerald green ones meeting crystal blue ones. The Doctor noticed the small streaks of green merged within the blue depths of the Director's irises, and blinked, swearing there was familiarity in those young eyes.

"Right," the Doctor cut in, shaking out of his trance and leaping to his feet. "Save the interesting stuff til later, right now, we have to find your friend."

"_Girl_friend," the Director corrected, snatching his sonic screwdriver from the Doctor and pointing it at the lock on the cell. It made a reassuring _click_, the door swinging open.

"Girlfriend, right," the Doctor took his hand, giving it a friendly squeeze. "We need to find her, and figure out what these people are up to."

Both walked down the short corridor, coming to the door of the prison. Luckily this wasn't locked, and before they walked out the Doctor quickly peered round to check the coast was clear, before they began a brisk walk down the dull grey corridor.

"I hear engines," the Director observed, his ears pricking up as he looked around. "I think we're on a spaceship."

"I hear them too," the Doctor said, "Forty thousand Hertz. Above the human hearing range, then."

He cast a suspicious glance at the Director.

The Director simply nodded. "So Ash won't be able to hear it. But _you _can."

"And so can you."

A door slid open in front of them, showing another long corridor. This was not going to be easy.

"I can sense her, she's not too far away I don't think... somewhere... _here_."

He turned sharply through a door to their right, stepping through, to be greeted with two guards. Before words could escape either of their mouths, one of the guards had already fired a stun gun, knocking them both out cold.

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**I wonder how these two are connected? Leave your thoughts in a review! Please ;)**


	14. Chapter 13: A Ship To Be Saved

**Ooh, this is the revelation chappie! Read on and find out...**

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The Director looked out through bleary eyes, and was happy to see the Doctor next to him, who was also waking up. When his vision finally returned to normal, he realised that they were in a room, there was a chair in the middle... wait, Ashley was on that chair. Ashley was on the chair!

When he tried to move, he realised that he was tied to some restraints. The Doctor also had the same problem. In front of them stood one of the guards, in a silver body suit. The Director thought he looked like some race car driver.

"She will save our ship," the guard declared, moving out of the way to let a taller figure come forth.

"Save your ship?" the Director asked, still a little disorientated from the stun gun.

"We have tried many, but they don't work. They are not powerful enough. But she is," the taller figure stepped forward, towering menacingly over the two of them.

"Powerful enough to do _what_?" the Doctor asked.

"Our ship is damaged. We need a strong mind to get it working again. We have tried using ourselves, but not even _our _minds are powerful enough to fix the ship. None of our mechanics can work it out. So we decided to try some people on this planet."

"The kidnappings," the Director mused, as it all slotted together. "So what happens to these people once you've tried them?"

"If they're not powerful enough, they disintegrate," the figure explained. "We use their energy to start the ship. No one survives."

"But you can't use Ashley!" the Director tugged at his restraints. "Look, we can help you start your ship. You don't need to use human minds or _anything_. We can help you."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Doctor smirking at him. He frowned, wondering why he'd be looking at him in such a way.

"You can help us?" the figure removed its helmet, revealing a grey-scaled head, with golden eyes.

"Ah, the Grefforians," the Doctor grinned. "Lovely race, as I remember. So, what's you name? I'm guessing you're the captain."

"Indeed," the captain nodded. "I am Captain Herdzwarder. If you can help us get the ship working, then we will be more than happy to release your friend."

"Great!" the Doctor beamed, indicating his restraints. "If you could only help us out of these, then we can help you."

Smiling affectionately, the captain bent down and undid the cuffs on both of them, allowing them to stand up.

"Now," the Doctor ran over to a control panel and fiddled with the controls. "What is it you need help with?"

"Our ship crashed and has broken down," the captain explained, turning to face him. "The only power we can get is from the suns. But that is no where near enough to get the ship working. It only gives us air and light."

"Air?" the Director questioned, "Why would you need air, the planet is full of it?"

"Our ship crashed _underwater_," the captain said.

Both nodded, before the Doctor crouched down and began fiddling with some wires underneath the control panel. The Director watched on in amazement.

"Sonic!"

Sighing, the Director fished his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and tossed it to the Doctor, who caught it and began fiddling with the wires.

"Y'see, it's not that hard really, all you need to do is connect the third wire to the blue one..." the Doctor connected them, and with a mechanical _whoosh_, all the systems came to life. "And bingo! All fixed."

The captain stood on in awe. "How...? How did you do that?"

"Simple really. Your circuits were a bit dodgy, so I fixed them."

"Thank you!" the captain beamed, and the Doctor chuckled. "Your friend will be released! Thank you for saving us! We owe you... what's your name?"

"The Doctor, and this is the Director and his _friend _Ashley."

"Thank you Doctor," the captain's gold eyes sparkled with glee. "We cannot thank you more. You have saved us."

"My pleasure," the Doctor stood up and placed a hand on the Director's shoulder as Ashley was released from the chair.

"Ash!" the Director ran over and embraced her, sweeping her close for a brief kiss on the lips. She blinked, surprised.

"Diro! I knew you'd save me! And who's _this_?" she indicated the Doctor.

"Oh, that's the Doctor. I don't know who he is yet, just a friend I suppose."

Ashley grinned and waved at the Doctor, who chuckled and waved back. "Hi."

"You will be released!" the captain smiled, ushering them out and in the direction of the teleports.

/\\\

They stood, the three of them, on the beach, staring up at the giant ship as it shot off up into the orange sky, disappearing. Once again the Director smiled nostalgically, and noticed that the Doctor had the same expression on.

"So," he said, turning to the Doctor. "Who are you?"

"I could ask the same," the Doctor said. "Let me check a minute."

He grabbed a new sonic screwdriver from his pocket, his green one, and used it to scan the Director up and down. Smirking, he knelt down and grabbed his wrist.

"What are you doing?"

"You, my friend, are wearing a perception filter," the Doctor grinned, using his sonic screwdriver to press it against the soft skin of his wrist, and held down the button.

The Director cried out in pain, and Ashley just stared on, blankly. Between his thumb and forefinger, the Doctor held a small micro-chip-like device.

"See! Ooh, it's Gallifreyan, too!"

"Shit!" the Director slapped his forehead, "I must've forgotten to take it off when I was escaping from the Daleks! I used it so they wouldn't detect me... and... oh my _god_..."

"Yes," the Doctor said. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I'm thinking that..." the Director wiped a tear from his eye which seemed to have formed of its own accord.

The Doctor stood up, tears forming in his own eyes. "I know who you are. Now that that's gone, I can sense you."

"And I you," the Director looked up at him. "But how? How did you escape?"

"I had to destroy it," the Doctor bowed his head. "To end it. I did it for you."

The Director sniffed as he took the Doctor's hands in his, looking up into his green eyes.

"I always thought, I saw it in your eyes, me. Your personality, like mine. Your bravery, character. Your parents would've been _so _proud."

They embraced into a tight hug. The Director buried his head in the Doctor's chest, sobbing against the fabric of his shirt. "I love you, Grandad."

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**We finally know how they're related! Yess! There'll be a lot more between these two in the next chapter, so remember to favourite, review and follow! ;)**


	15. Chapter 14: Amy Wins This Time

**Another chappie! This has a bit of 11/Amy fluff in it, so if you're not into this pair I suggest you skip those parts... anyways, read on!**

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The doors of the Doctor's TARDIS opened, to reveal the exact same interior as in the Director's. His brow creased as he stepped inside to see a redhead sitting on one of the jump seats.

"But... it's the same as mine," the Director commented, looking towards the Doctor who was already racing up towards the console. Taking Ashley's hand, who was still speechless, he followed suite.

"Oh, hello!" the redhead leapt off the chair. "Who are these, Doctor?"

"Difficult to explain, Pond," the Doctor smiled, rushing around to her side, and indicating between the three of them. "Amy Pond, the Director and Ashley. The Director and Ashley, Amy Pond."

Amy gave a cute wave. "So, where did you find them?"

"_Find _them? Pond, why would you think I randomly go picking up kids?"

"Well who are they then?"

"You know I said I was the last of the Time Lords?"

"Yes..."

"I was wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"This, Amelia..." he wrapped an arm around the Director's shoulders and he blushed with embarrassment. "...is my lovely Grandson who managed to escape the war too. With a cost... he _has _regenerated since then."

"Your _Grandson_?" Amy stepped back, shocked. "You're a Grandfather?"

"I _am _907, Amelia."

"Stop calling me Amelia. So you had a family back on your home planet?"

"I did."

"Doctor, you can talk about me and Ashley. Where did you pick _her _up?" the Director butted in, smirking at his bright red face.

"Uh... you've misunderstood a little," the Doctor was blushing and frowned at Amy's smirking expression. "She's... a friend."

"Am I _just _a friend?" Amy sauntered over towards him, both the kids looked shell-shocked as she ran her hands down his chest. "Or am I... more?"

"Amelia," the Doctor warned, stepping away from her. "There's a time and a place, and it's _not _in front of my Grandson."

"Doctor," she teased, playing with the strand of hair which hung over his eye. "Answer my question. Am I more than just a friend?"

Ashley looked worriedly in the Director's direction, mouthing _right little seductress, isn't she?_

Meanwhile the Director was trying his hardest not to look.

"Y-you... _Amy_, stop that _right _now."

She had begun sliding her hands up and down his torso, which was having an unnoticeable effect on him. And he didn't like it one bit.

"Amy, not now. _Please _stop that... ah! Pond!"

She was nibbling a rather sensitive spot on his neck which was driving him crazy. His head was tipped back, his eyelids flickering as she flicked her tongue against his sensitive skin.

"So," her mouth was very close to his ear. "Do you like that, Doctor?"

His response was a moan as she untucked his shirt and began lightly scratching her nails over his bare skin.

"You do, don't you?"

"Amy... _please_. You don't know how embarrassing this is."

Finally Amy saw sense. "You're right... I'm sorry. But I _will _try another time."

Pouting, the redhead stalked off and plopped herself down on one of the jump seats. She looked rather distressed. If those two weren't in the room that could've gone much further.

The Doctor tucked in his shirt and ran a hand through his hair to straighten it up, then looked at the two before him with an embarrassed expression.

"Sorry about that. Amy sometimes gets a bit carried away."

"A bit carried away!? Doctor, you don't know what you do to me," she frowned.

"Ah..." the Director was biting his lip, trying to forget that rather disturbing scene. "What was _that_?"

"We could do that more often," Ashley whispered in his ear, squeezing his hand suggestively. A bright red blush crept to his cheeks.

"Ash, not right now."

"So then!" the Doctor beamed. "What are we gonna do about TARDISes?"

"Merge," the Director suggested. "Like merge the two together."

"Good idea!" the Doctor patted him on the head, then pushing down a few levers. "And Pond, why the sour face?"

"You _know _why."

"Amy, that is the _fifth _time you've tried to seduce me this week. It's getting out of hand."

"But Doctor, I _love _you."

"You love Rory."

"No, I love _you_."

The Doctor ignored her, just as the TARDIS started shaking. "Hold on everyone! She's merging!"

Amy let out a shrill scream as the TARDIS began to shake violently, everyone holding onto the nearest thing for support. Just as suddenly as it'd started, it stopped and everything was back to normal.

"Merged!" the Doctor grinned, patting the Director's shoulder. "You should find your room somewhere. Off you pop, have fun."

Grinning, the Director took Ashley's hand, and they walked off into the corridor, leaving Amy and the Doctor alone.

"Amy Pond," the Doctor strode over to her, glaring down at the redhead. "That was really embarrassing. Don't do it again."

A flash of hurt crossed Amy's face. "I'm sorry... it wasn't at the right time, it's just... _please_, Doctor, one night is all I want."

"Amy, you're getting married to Rory! How do you think he'd feel if he found out you were cheating on him? Wouldn't be very happy, would he? I doubt any man would."

Amy stood up, walking towards him so he was pinned against the console. "Please, Doctor. He'll never know. But... I love _you_, I'm sorry... but I don't think I've ever loved Rory more than a friend."

"Amy," the Doctor glared at her, trying to wriggle away but he was pinned by her body and her arms either side of him. "I can't do this... I'm 907 years old."

He let out a sharp breath when Amy pressed her body against him. "Then it's been a while. Let me change that."

"Pond, please..."

"Please what?"

"Don't make me do this."

"Do _what_?"

"Give in."

Amy chuckled wickedly as she began nuzzling his neck. The Doctor had little self-control remaining, he knew it was wrong, it was _very _wrong indeed. But he _was _a man, and men did have primal urges, no matter what their species, Time Lord or not.

When she bit down on his neck he exhaled a breathy moan. "Amy..."

"Doctor, I think you need to be taught a lesson," Amy purred against his ear. "Let me teach you."

She undid his bowtie in one swift tug, discarding it on the glass floor. The Doctor's eyes bulged, as Amy leaned forward and caught his lips in a passionate kiss. He didn't think he could last much longer as she began working on his shirt buttons, after pushing off his jacket and pulling his braces down. Surprisingly he didn't make much of an effort to stop her as she bucked her hips against his, making him moan.

Amy grinned into the kiss when she felt his desire for her pressing against the bottom of her stomach. So he _did _want her, but was reluctant to show it.

Finally the Doctor saw sense and tried to remove his fingers from where they'd been fisting in her thick red hair. He broke away, looking at her seriously.

"If we do this, you can't go back."

"So you give in?"

He sighed. "Yes."

Amy almost squealed with delight. "Let's continue then."

And with that, she melded their lips together and tugged him in the direction of her bedroom.

/\\\

"Nice bed," Ashley flopped down on the big double bed the TARDIS had made for them. "Comfortable."

"I wonder what Grandad's up to?" the Director wondered. He swore he'd heard a few random grunts and moans from outside their door.

"God knows," Ashley smiled. "Anyway, I think we should watch some tele."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, anything."

The Director joined her and they snuggled up together, turning on the widescreen TV on the wall. After flicking through a few channels they finally found one they liked and lay watching it in each others' company.

After a few minutes, Ashley was drained of energy and fell asleep in the Director's arms. They lay like that for hours, just completely relaxed. The Director thought of Gallifrey, the times his Grandad had taken him and his older sister out to watch a meteor shower, and eventually ended up drifting off too.

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**Can I get some reviews me lovelies? Pretty please? ;)**


	16. Chapter 15: Mending Relationships

**I've noticed I'm not getting many reviews/favourites/follows. Please review or favourite! It tells me that you're still interested in my story! Thanks ;)**

**Also no matter how much I wanted to include an Amy/11 relationship in here, I've decided to stick with the Doctor Who ships for this story. I've satisfied my Amy/11 cravings at the end of the last chapter, cos that's what I think should've happened... **

**I also need some ideas from my readers. Where would you like this story to go? Where would you like them to travel to next? I'm always interested in hearing your ideas and suggestions, I read all of my reviews and I'll take all of your ideas into consideration! It really helps me. Thanks ;)**

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It was morning; if you could call it that in a time machine which was in the time vortex, where there wasn't exactly a specific time. But they'd developed TARDIS-time. Which said it was morning.

The TV was still on in the background; the Director just remembered he'd forgotten to turn it off. He'd fallen asleep. That was unusual, he hardly ever slept. But having Ashley lying next to him, snuggled in his arms was a bonus.

He then realised the situation; both were fully clothed lying on their bed. And his neck was very stiff. And he felt terrible.

_Definitely need to remember to get **into **the bed next time_, he thought.

Not wanting to wake Ashley up, he climbed out of bed and tip-toed to the bathroom. Quickly combing his hair (which looked like the usual bed-head: absolutely stuck-your-finger-in-a-socket crazy) and cleaning up, he decided to go and find his Grandad to discuss which planet they were going to go to next. That or have a dip in the swimming pool.

Trudging down the TARDIS corridor he realised that he didn't feel bothered to go in the swimming pool. So he was going to go and find his Grandad, who was most likely in the TARDIS console room. Humans usually needed more sleep than Time Lords, so he guessed that Amy would still be asleep. With the two redheads asleep, he figured that they could have some time alone.

When he reached the console room, he bounded down the stairs and onto the glass platform, unsurprised to see his Grandad was already up. He was never big on sleep.

"Ah! Morning!"

The Doctor looked up and grinned when he saw the Director join him by the console.

"Grandad," the Director smiled. "You're up."

"I am," he nodded.

"I never asked. How long has it been for you... you know... since...?"

The Doctor nodded solemnly in understanding. "A few hundred years and three regenerations."

"Blimey, it's not been that long for me. Only one, and that was when I got shot escaping."

"What was that nickname I used to call you?" the Doctor stopped dead around the console, resting one hand on a lever he was about to pull.

The Director thought for a moment. "Dexi, I think that was it."

"Oh yes, of course! Ever since you were so little," the Doctor ruffled his hair, and the Director pouted. He'd just brushed it.

"When I was little, you were hardly ever around! Going off with humans," the Director chuckled fondly. "However I can hardly talk."

"You had Susan to look after you, she always did such a great job," the Doctor said.

"She used to hide all my toys!" the Director pouted, then they both burst out laughing, not noticing Amy standing at the door to the corridor, hands on her hips, looking unimpressed.

"Am I interrupting something?" she glared at the Doctor, who immediately stopped laughing and glanced to her.

"Just a moment," he mouthed to the Director, before running up the stairs as Amy pulled him by his bowtie into the corridor, a good distance from the console room.

"Thanks for leaving me alone," she spat. "After last night I'd have thought you'd like to wake up with me, but no, you _had _to leave me."

The Doctor gulped. "I'm sorry Amy, but it can't happen again."

Amy looked like she was about to cry, tears brimming in her eyes. "Why not?! After all that, and you're going to pretend it never happened? Well you've got another thing coming, Mister."

"You've got Rory, you don't need me."

"But Doctor, I love _you_. We've been over this."

"I can't betray Rory. I've given you one night, Amy. That's all I can do. I was being kind, I don't like to see you upset."

"Well I'm upset now!" Amy cried, wiping tears from her eyes. "I love you, Doctor. I love you and you're _rejecting _me like you did in my bedroom!"

"Amy Pond," the Doctor placed his hands on her cheeks and kissed her forehead. "This can't work. I've said it before. I'll live on, and you'll die. Rory; he'll die at the same time as you. You can grow old together. You can have lots of kids. He can give you what I can't. Amelia, _please_."

"Is this because of River?" the name was bitter on her tongue.

"What's River got to do with any of this?"

"She's your wife, isn't she? I figured it from the very _start_. _That's _why you don't want me."

"River is... I don't know who she is, but I certainly hope it doesn't come to that. And it's not because of her. I'm doing what's best for you, Amy. I'm doing it because I love you. But I can't love you. No matter how much I _want _to love you like that, I can't because I'm a Time Lord, and you're a human."

"You... you love me?" a smile crossed Amy's lips for the first time in a while.

"Of course I love you, Pond," the Doctor gently took her hand in his. "I love all my friends. But you need to know this. You may _think _I'm rejecting you, but I'm not. I want this just as much as you do, Amy. I'm doing this for your own good. I don't want it to come to me standing over your grave."

"Doctor, I love you. I really do. I know you think I should go with Rory. But I love you. I love _both _of you. But you were always there first," Amy choked back a sob. "Rory was there for me when you weren't. He was my friend all throughout those fourteen years. But when you came back, all I could think about was you."

"You're getting married tomorrow morning," the Doctor smiled. "Please, Amelia, don't let me ruin another life."

"But if I marry Rory, I'll be a boring housewife. But you; you're clever and amazing, you take me to magnificent places that I've always dreamed off. You whisk me away in your time machine. You can go anywhere."

"If Rory wants to, he can come with us."

Amy sighed. "Fine. I'll go with Rory. But on one condition."

"What?"

"You give me one last kiss."

The Doctor smiled, bringing his hand back to her cheek and pressing his lips to hers. Amy knew this would probably be the last time she would ever get to kiss her Doctor. She had to make the most of it, and she did.

Her hands went straight to his hair, burying themselves within it. The Doctor rested his hands on Amy's hips as they passionately kissed; it wasn't rushed, it was slow. Slow so that both could be like it for as long as they possibly could.

She couldn't help it. A lone tear rolled down Amy's cheek, she was sad. Sad that this was her last time she was going to be able to kiss him. This wonderful, brilliant man, and she had to go back to normal life with boring, ordinary Rory. The most ordinary man who probably wanted an ordinary life, where they'd live in some little cottage and do the same things every day. No excitement. Not like with the Doctor. He was pure thrill and wonder. He could take her to places beyond her wildest dreams. He was handsome and charming. He was her Raggedy Doctor, the mad man who stole a blue box and ran away.

And yet he could never be hers.

/\\\

And so it happened. The Doctor took them to Venice, and Amy realised that although she loved the Doctor, Rory was who she was destined to be with. Her and the Doctor would always be the best of friends, but they could never live the life they wanted to lead. The life where it was just her and him, travelling through time and space, happily married with loads of kids. But it could never happen. And they both knew that.

Rory had finally consented to come abroad the TARDIS, and join the crew. That was when Amy realised that Rory wasn't as bad as she originally thought, she'd still be with the Doctor, but with him alongside too. It would be even better. It was always them. Amy Pond and Rory Williams, together.

They all stood in the console room, ready for another adventure. Amy and Rory were leaning on the railing having a quite animated conversation, and the Doctor and the Director were at the other side, with Ashley listening in to them talking about old times.

"...and then she locked me in the attic! I was in there for _hours_."

The Doctor laughed. "Until I finally noticed and had to climb up and get you out. Susan was always playing tricks on you. When your parents were out, she'd chase you around until you were gasping for air. You two were so cute together."

"So Susan's your older sister?" Ashley asked.

The Director nodded. "Yeah, she was. You would've liked her."

"_Anyway_, who would like to go somewhere?" the Doctor beamed, twirling around then striding to the console. Amy and Rory were halfway through kissing when they were distracted by the Doctor's voice, and had to break apart.

"Where to?" Amy chirped, joining the Doctor by the console, Rory on her tail.

"Let's let Rory choose!" the Doctor looked expectantly at Rory. "He's the newest."

"Uh..." Rory began, then patted Amy's shoulder affectionately. "Amy, you can choose... I can't decide."

Amy smiled, turning and pecking Rory on the cheek. "Thank you! Can we, I don't know... like go to the future or something?"

"How far?"

"I don't know... just the future sometime," Amy replied. "Or we could let the kids choose if you don't want to go there."

The Director frowned at being called a kid.

"Okay... the future!" the Doctor grinned, dramatically pulling down a lever on the console. The TARDIS began to shake, sending them stumbling backwards. Everyone had to clutch either the console or the railing for support.

Just as suddenly as she'd started shaking, she stopped. They all grinned before running towards the doors. The Director clutched Ashley's hand as they approached the doors.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking to the doors which stood between her and somewhere wonderful.

"Let's find out!" the Director pulled the doors open, revealing a vast green landscape, giant white buildings in the distance. Except the grass was crowded by people taking up every inch. The TARDIS was parked right at the very back, behind everyone. There looked to be over five thousand standing there under the night sky.

"Home?" Ashley sighed, placing a hand on her hip as everyone shuffled out.

The Doctor took a sniff. "Aha! New Earth, year five billion and something. The first year of the humans discovering the planet!"

"Doctor, what's New Earth?" Amy asked as Rory shut the doors behind them.

"New Earth is the planet the humans migrate to after your Earth's been destroyed by the sun. And if I'm not mistaken, this is the night when they have loads of fireworks!"

Amy smiled and stood hand-in-hand with Rory. The Doctor leant against the TARDIS doors, waiting expectantly. The Director and Ashley stood together a few metres away, just looking up at the sky until the silence was pierced by several bangs, and they looked to see in the distance, great purple fireworks. They crackled before disappearing into the night.

"This is beautiful," Ashley smiled. "I wasn't alive in this time. But it's beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you," the Director smirked, just as another lot of bright purple fireworks lit up the sky.

Just then another lot came up, this time even more. An entire row of vibrant yellow fireworks sparkled against the black sheet of the sky, exploding into a thousand different crackling dots. The noises it made were beautiful. The different colours brought light into the darkness.

The Doctor came up behind them, placing a hand on both their shoulders and looking up as more fireworks lit the sky. "My little Dexi, look. Look at the colours. Doesn't it remind you of the Gallifreyan Fireworks Festival? We went a few times. Now those were _fireworks_."

The Director smiled at the memory. The different colours lighting up the burnt orange sky, giving it life. "They were."

For the rest of that night, the five of them stood watching the fireworks light up the sky, together, as a family.

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**Did you enjoy that chapter? Please let me know, or I might have to put a picture on here of a puppy begging! Haha :) Please review and I'll be a very happy person. Pretty please?**


	17. Chapter 16: Planet Of The Shadows

**SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY! You must've thought that I'd either been abducted by aliens with the promise of no return, or been exiled to Pluto! I haven't updated this story in something like 3 months... and I'm so sorry! I just neglected it because when it came to ideas... I just went braindead. I've mainly had ideas for all my other stories but just not this one. You probably hate me now. I'm surprised if you still even want to continue reading this... thank you if you are! *high fives all round to those who are!* dedication.**

**This is probably going to be the last chapter for this story. And sorry for the mega cliffhanger. If I get round to it, and you want me to, I'll write a sequel. But only if you want me to! Let me know in a review. Hope you enjoy...!**

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The Doctor was below the console doing some repairs on the TARDIS, Amy and Rory were off somewhere together, so Ashley and I had quite a bit of the TARDIS to ourselves. We'd decided to take a little break from adventuring, since we'd been on quite a few recently. Everyone had really been enjoying themselves. Visiting all the different planets... although invading aliens did tend to get in the way quite a bit.

So far we'd watched about ten different movies in the cinema room, done about fifty laps in the swimming pool, had fifteen bowling matches, but now we didn't really have a lot to do. There were plenty of things to do aboard the TARDIS, but none of them took our fancy. So it ended up in us both playing 'Space Mario Kart' on the Xbox 900 in the big living room.

We lay down on beanbags next to each other, playing splitscreen on the giant screen which took up the entire wall. The game was also 3D, so it looked like we were actually racing instead of playing a game.

"No! Don't you _dare _shoot that red shell at me, Mister!" Ashley snapped, her fingers furiously working the levers and buttons of the controller.

The thing was she looked so beautiful when she was pouting like that. My eyes wouldn't leave her perfect, red hair or her dazzling eyes. She was just so... perfect.

"Well too bad!" I chuckled, and shot the little red shell out in front of me, and it twisted and turned until it smashed into her Kart, sending it cartwheeling over.

"You son of a bitch!" she screamed jokingly, nudging me with her elbow and giving me the evil glare. We both got a little bit out of control when playing games, but we'd never say anything horrible to each other. We were always joking.

"And he's getting closer..." I narrated to myself as my Kart weaved its way around the one in front of me until I was first. "And he's almost there, he's going to beat his high score..."

_CRACK._

The room went dark. The power went off. Ashley and I were engulfed in instant darkness.

"What the hell just happened?!" I wondered, reaching for Ashley's hand and clasping it tightly. "The power just went off, but the power _never _goes off!"

"D-Director... what is wrong?" Her voice was trembling.

"I don't know," I answered honestly, standing up and helping her with me, although I couldn't see her. Reaching in my pocket I pulled out my sonic screwdriver and turned it on. Both of our faces were illuminated by the faint glow of the device.

Utter terror was written all over her expression. I felt the need to squeeze her hand reassuringly.

"We're going to be fine, now all we need to do is find Grandad. He'll know what's wrong."

She maintained the death grip she had on my hand as we slowly navigated our way out of the door, stepping over the mess on the floor and using the light from my sonic screwdriver to lead the way.

Finally we got outside into the corridor, the eerie silence making my hearts thud.

"Follow me," I whispered, for some reason I felt the need to whisper. She followed me down the maze of corridors, until we finally managed to reach the console room. The lighting was gone in here too, and it was starting to get cold. I shivered as a chill racked my spine. The heating must've gone too.

I wrapped an arm around Ashley's shoulder to keep her warm as I cautiously made my way down the stairs, her right next to me. The hum of the dead lights was starting to freak me out now. And wait... Grandad was meant to be in here, repairing the TARDIS. But there was no noise at all coming from this room.

I felt like I was in some sort of horror movie. The power was dead on the spaceship, the aliens were going to leap out of nowhere and rip your guts out, terrifying you with their piercing roar... but there was nothing. Only silence.

"Director..." Ashley gripped my arm. "Where's the Doctor?"

"I don't know," I said, "At the moment I don't know anything. Just give me a moment and I'll try to figure it out."

My foot finally made contact with the glass floor of the central console. Still no noise.

Then the entire ship shuddered, and Ashley let out a piercing scream, clutching my arm for dear life as I whipped round and held onto her.

"What was _that_?!" she panted, fear evident in her tone. "Diro, tell me! What the hell was that?!"

"I-I don't..."

Another shake. This time it was more forceful, and sent us sprawling out across the console floor. Ashley was trembling and shaking, I just tried to hold onto her hand reassuringly but it didn't seem to be working right now.

Then, out of nowhere a faint siren began to sound. _Beep-beep-beep-beep!_

Another piercing scream from Ashley almost deafened me as the time machine shook much harder this time, as if it was an earthquake.

"Help!" she yelled as this time it didn't stop... it kept shaking. The small siren turned into the _bong-bong _of the cloister bell, which meant we were in extreme danger.

As the ship shook, I lay by her side and tried to look into her eyes.

"Hold on," I whispered with a smile, and surprisingly she smiled back. We clutched each other's hands tightly as the ship was flung through the time vortex and into distant space.

/\\\

It was dark. All I could hear was my own laboured breathing. Then when I listened more intentely I could hear someone else breathing next to me. Opening my eyes, I realised it was Ashley. Whatever happened... it was over. And the most important thing was that she was safe.

When her eyes opened, nothing could describe how happy and relieved I felt. If something happened to her, I would never forgive myself.

"Director?" she breathed, and I gave her a sleepy smile. We'd obviously passed out or something.

"Ashley," I smiled back, and I leaned in and gave her a brief peck on the lips. "Thank Rassilon you're safe."

We both managed to stand up. The TARDIS was empty, and still silent. Smoke poured out of the centre console in thick, dense clouds. My guess was that we'd crashed... somewhere.

Only then did I realise that we were no longer lying on the cold, glass floor of the centre console, we were beside the door. Our clothes were covered in dust, and every time we breathed out it would excite a bunch of dust particles in the air.

"We've crashed," I reported, turning to face the door. "Shall we find out where?"

"But we could be anywhere... it might not be safe," Ashley pointed out, turning to me for reassurance.

"Since when have we ever done 'safe'?" I smirked, and she giggled for the first time in a while. I've always loved her laugh... it's so adorable and just damn cute.

Slowly opening the doors, since I had no idea what to expect out there, I peered around the corner of the door. Instantly cold wind whipped at the warm, slightly flushed skin of my face. I pulled my head back inside, taking deep breaths.

"It's a bit cold... but we have each other," I said, taking her hand and opening the door fully. We both stepped outside... well at least we were able to breathe. According to my, if I must say, very accurate predictions, the planet had an oxygen-rich atmosphere, and decent, almost Earth-like, gravity. Maybe it might be a bit cold and windy, but we needed to find out where we were and why the TARDIS had taken us here. Or if it hadn't necessarily been the TARDIS, _who _had taken us here.

Ashley instinctively snuggled into me for warmth, and I wrapped my arm around her, hoping to provide a source of warmth for her. I took a deep breath, sniffing the air and letting it fill my lungs.

"I-I've never seen this planet before..." I deduced... but this was weird. Why, when I tried to deduce where this planet was, did I get nothing?

"Shouldn't we go back inside and get some better clothing?" Ashley suggested, looking up to me. I bit my lip and nodded reluctantly.

"I guess... after all it is a bit chilly out here," I said, but when I turned around, the TARDIS was gone. In its place was more forest. We were surrounded by trees. They stood tall above us, trapping us in. And there was no sign of the TARDIS.

"Ash," I whispered, and she gasped when she didn't see the TARDIS either. "I think we're kinda stuck."

"Oh my God!" she whimpered, clutching onto me for dear life. "The TARDIS has gone! What are we going to do?!"

Then I heard a noise. The strained, mechanical voice of a malevolent creature. Of a creature that has haunted me, every night during my childhood. The voice rumbled from deep in the forest, shuddering its way through my ears, through my hearts, and electrocuting my eardrums. The voice of hell. The voice of a monster that has slaughtered millions.

My hearts drop, they thud for my life, most of all for Ashley's life, as I hear the voice.

"Ex..."

"...ter..."

"...min..."

"...ate!"

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**Dun dun dun...! As I just said in the authors note at the top, I am open to the idea of a sequel. Tell me if you want one, your feedback is welcomed! Hugs to all xoxoxo**


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